Wesolowski, a former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, died last week while awaiting trial at the Vatican on charges of child sex abuse and possessing child pornography.

He did not appear at the first day of his trial in July, but was taken to hospital.

A funeral Mass was celebrated on Monday by the papal almoner, Polish Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, at the chapel of the Vatican Governate.

A sign of respect for the innocent victims, Archbishop Krajewski forewent the homily and instead invited the faithful to "reflect in silence on the great gift the Lord offers us with the Eucharist and offer it to our brother Joseph".

A Vatican spokesman said the silence instead of the homily was Archbishop Krajewski's idea.

There were more than twenty concelebrants at the funeral Mass.

These including Cardinal James Harvey, a former prefect of the Papal Household, and Msgr Wells, Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.

There were also about 50 or so nuns belonging to various congregations, some monks and a group of journalists.

The rite was celebrated as it would be for a lay person, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had dismissed Wesolowski from the clerical state.

The CDF rejected his appeal against this.

At the funeral, one of the prayers of the faithful, read by a Pauline nun, was for Wesolowski and another was for his victims.

The faithful reportedly prayed "for the soul of our brother Joseph, that the Lord may free it from the power of the darkness and from eternal death".

The celebrant then invoked forgiveness for all sins "so that the souls of our dead brothers may obtain the forgiveness they always yearned for".

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• ANSA
• Crux Now
• Image: Huffington Post

Space has been set aside for a barber service within in a facility featuring showers and bathrooms for the homeless.

Construction of the facility in public restrooms on St Peter's Square began in November.

"Our primary concern is to give people their dignity," said Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, head of the Office of Papal Charities.

"[A barber] is another service that homeless people do not have easy access to.

"It is not easy for them to enter a normal shop because there may be a fear of customers catching something, like scabies for example."

The barber service will be open on Mondays, when barber shops in Italy are traditionally closed.

Many Italian barbers and student barbers have volunteered their services.

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