A cardinal who conducts acts of charity for Pope Francis has reestablished power for many individuals in a building in Rome in the wake of descending a manhole and flipping a switch, local media report.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said he acted in “desperation” on the grounds that the tenants of the state-owned property had gone through seven days without power and hot water.
Activists have been utilizing the building to give safe house to the homeless.
The electricity supplier cut the power because of obligations of €300,000 (£260,000).
The sum is accepted to have collected in the years since the unused building was taken over in 2013. It presently houses in excess of 400 individuals, including about 100 kids.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, has said he currently anticipates that the ecclesiastical assistant should pay the overdue utility bills, as indicated by the Italian daily La Repubblica.
On Sunday, Cardinal Krajewski depicted how he had descended a manhole and evacuated seals covering a switch in order to turn the building’s power supply back on.
“I intervened personally last night to reattach the meters. It was a desperate gesture. There were over 400 people without electricity, with families, children, without even the possibility of operating the refrigerators,” he told Italy’s Ansa news agency.
“I didn’t do it because I was drunk,” he reportedly added.
The building on Via di Santa Croce not only provides shelter, but today also houses workspaces, including a craft beer laboratory and a carpentry shop, Italian media report.