Cardinal breaks law to restore power for homeless

A close aide to Pope Francis has drawn the ire of Italy's anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini by climbing down a manhole to restore electricity to hundreds of homeless people living in an occupied building.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, 55, whose job is to distribute the pope's charity funds, went to the disused state-owned building near a Rome cathedral on Saturday night and broke a police seal to re-connect electrical circuit breakers.

To some, he was a hero of sorts by Monday morning as the news went viral. Rome's left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper ran a banner headline calling him "The Pope's Robin Hood" and praising him for doing the right thing under the circumstances.

"What can I say? It was a particularly desperate situation. I repeat: I assume all the responsibility. If a fine arrives, I'll pay it," Krajewski said in an interview in Corriere della Sera newspaper on Monday.

The building has been occupied since 2013 by Italians who had lost their homes and migrants. It houses some 450 people, including about 100 children.

It had been without power since May 6 because some 300,000 euro in electricity bills had not been paid.

"Defending illegality is never a good sign," Salvini, who has often clashed with the pope on migration and other social issues, told reporters on Monday.

"There are many Italians and even legal immigrants who pay their bills, even if with difficulty.

People can do what they please but as interior minister, I guarantee the rules." Krajewski, who rides around Rome on a bicycle, said he would pay the building's electricity bills from now on but that for him, the issue went beyond money.

"There are children there. The first thing to ask is 'why are they there? What is the reason? How is it possible that families are in such a situation," he told reporters.

Krajewski, a Pole, was already a minor celebrity in Rome. Since the Pope named him to the Vatican charity job in 2013, he became known for dressing down into simple layman's clothes at night and bringing food the city's homeless in a white van.

Philip Pullella