Pope gives 3,000 ice creams to poor and homeless people

The Pope has marked his name day by ordering thousands of ice creams for poor and homeless people.

Pope Francis, who was born Jorge (George) Mario Bergoglio, celebrated St George’s Day with “the most needy and homeless of Rome”, a Vatican statement said.

On Monday, he paid for 3,000 servings of gelato to be handed out to guests at soup kitchens and shelters across Italy’s capital.

The pontiff is known to have a sweet tooth, particularly for the caramel dulce de leche specialty of his native Argentina.

At one soup kitchen run by the Vatican's Caritas charity, a container of vanilla and chocolate gelato was served alongside a lunch of pasta to guests.

Pope Francis has made a point of taking care of Rome's poor and homeless, inviting them to occasional lunches, concerts and museum visits at the Vatican, and providing them with sleeping bags, free showers, barbers and laundry services.

For his 80th birthday, he invited eight homeless people to breakfast, where they ate pastries from his native Argentina.

Earlier this month, the pontiff argued caring for migrants and the poor is as holy as taking a stand against abortion.

Pope Francis, who has clashed with US president Donald Trump on immigration and has made defence of migrants a critical part of his papacy, urged followers to battle for the rights of the poor with as much commitment as they would show in resisting the termination of pregnancies.

Additional reporting by AP