The Catholic benefactor, Abbé Pierre, has died at the age of 94. For more than half a century he worked for the poor and homeless, at first mainly in France, but now his Emmaüs organisation is active in around 40 countries. In Paris, where Abbé Pierre began his work, there's a lot of sorrow at his death.
Karim stands in a queue with one of the relief workers from the Emmaüs organisation, which was set up in 1949 by Abbé Pierre. Here the homeless can get coffee and food, they can have a shower and see the doctor and even do some studying.
"A centre like this, yes, that really is the legacy of Abbé Pierre'', says Marie-Anne Dubosc who works here. "It's tragic that he's dead, but his work and his ideas will live on."
Mother Theresa
The death of the 'male Mother Theresa' has thrown France off balance. President Jacques Chirac said: "France has been moved by him". On the streets and in the media, there was sadness too at the loss of the man who put everyone but himself in first place.
After the Second World War, Abbé Pierre, who's real name was Henri Grouès, set himself up in a Parisian suburb. Before the war, he had been a monk, but he left the monastery because he felt trapped by the lifestyle. Even so, his Catholic conviction shaped his activities for the whole of his life. According to folklore, a prisoner named George had come to seek his help in Paris. "I have nothing, but if you want to help me, we can help many others together", Abbé Pierre replied. Shortly afterwards, the organisation Emmaüs was born. The organisation set up centres for the homeless and eventually worked on a much bigger scale and in many other ways to help the less fortunate and people without a home.
Radio address
In 1954, Abbé Pierre made his mark with a famous radio address. It was winter, and a woman had died on the street because of the cold. The founder of Emmaüs called on the French not to accept this and to give their help. And that's what happened. The French donated, in great numbers, bedclothes, clothes and money and the French parliament decided shortly afterwards to create 12,000 emergency shelter places for the homeless.
The man with the beard was a living legend. One after the other, he received top honours, was often tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize and for 17 years was voted the most popular Frenchman. Just once he caused an angry reaction: in the 1960s he supported his friend and philosopher Roger Garaudy who wrote a book which denied the existence of the Shoah. The controversy mounted, Abbé Pierre did an about-turn and criticised Holocaust-deniers, but didn't want to distance himself from the controversial book.
In his final years he still seemed very active, although his age started to show. A book which he wrote a year ago, became a bestseller. He still wanted to be everywhere and continued to personally visit centres for the homeless. His own good-works organisation, the Abbé Pierre Foundation, had to regularly urge him to rest.
In the meantime, the Emmaüs organisation has grown strongly and is now active on four continents and in 41 countries. In France itself it has 115 branches.
But Abbé Pierre had even more strings to his bow. In his homeland became known as starting 'civil activism'. With media-savvy activities, he knew the homeless would more easily get onto the political agenda: he squatted an empty building, took part in a radio quiz or addressed parliament. And even to this day, this tradition has opened the way to his successors.
Tents
With the pitching of small tents in Paris, activists knew they would succeed in putting the homeless crisis back onto the agenda. And so it proved, the government decided to make more beds and money available. Abbé Pierre still made it there. A week and a half after the last pledges from the government, he was taken to the hospital with a lung infection. Early on Monday morning, he died.
*Translated and Edited by RNW Internet Desk (cc)
Tags: Abbe Pierre, Catholic, death, Emmaus organisation, France, homeless, poor, sorrow