'Palazzo Migliori' is the building where they live and it is a gift from the Pope for people with no home or place to stay.

Jorge a long-term resident of the poor house held a card with the words "Pope Francis, we are by your side".

Jorge told reporters, "We wish the Pope all the best and hope he heals as soon as possible."

On Sunday, the pontiff made his first public appearance since his surgery.

Holding the lecturn throughout, Francis greeted well-wishers as he stood on a hospital balcony. He offered hearty thanks for all the prayers for his recovery and called health care for all a "precious" good.

"I am happy to be able to keep the Sunday appointment," the pope said. "I thank everyone, and I very much felt your closeness and the support of your prayers," Francis said.

"Thank you from my heart!" exclaimed the pontiff.

Francis ended with his usual invitation to faithful.

"Don't forget to pray for me," drawing rousing applause.

According to the Vatican, Francis, 84, has been recovering following his July 4 scheduled surgery. He underwent an operation to remove a portion of his colon, which had narrowed due to inflammation.

On the morning after his surgery, a Holy See spokesperson said his hospital stay was expected to last seven days, "barring complications". But as yet, the Vatican hasn't said just when he might be discharged.

On Tuesday the Vatican said that "in order to optimise his medical and rehabilitation therapy, the Holy Father will remain in hospital for a few more days".

Pope Francis, Sunday, delivering his Angelus address from balcony at Gemelli accompanied by sick children.

In his ‘Letter from Rome', Robert Mickens has raised concerns about the timing of the pope's surgery.

"Who schedules surgery for late evening?" Mickens asks, "and on Sunday evening at that?"

"Certainly not a normal person. And not even VIPs. No one does, because most studies indicate that surgical operations in the evening are riskier than those performed during the first part of the day."

"It seems credible that Francis' surgery was, indeed, planned. But maybe just not for Sunday night."

So what would be behind the secrecy and timing of the pope's surgery?

Mickens says "there are some serious and even well-founded reasons for invoking the pope's privacy to justify even the slightest secrecy about his state of health."

"Francis has enemies among the cardinals and other influential Church leaders. They would be emboldened in their efforts to block his program of radical change if it were to be disclosed that his health is failing," Mickens suggests.

Sources

• Breaking Latest News
• Live Mint
• La Croix International
• Vatican Press statement

The menu included lasagna, chicken in a cream of mushroom sauce, potatoes, sweets, fruit and coffee.

Some 150 tables were set up in a Vatican hall where Francis normally holds his weekly indoor audiences with the public.

Another 1,500 were treated to a similar lunch elsewhere in Rome, and parishes throughout the diocese were similarly serving lunch for those who were unable to afford their own.

Lunch follows on from a week of free medical clinics set up in St Peter's Square where volunteer doctors give the homeless and disadvantaged free specialist health care.

General care is available year-round nearby, another of Francis' initiatives.

Also, on Friday, Francis opened a new place for the homeless on the doorstep of the Vatican.

Just a few metres away from the colonnade of St Peter's Square, the building occupies an entire four-storey building owned by the Vatican.

Up until a few months back, the building, Palazzo Migliori was used by a female religious congregation.

Transferred to the Papal Almoner - Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, it now has a second life.

"It is the name of the family that owned it before 1930 and sold it to the Vatican, but it also translates in Italian to ‘the Palace of the Best' - and indeed considering who will stay here, it is exactly the case", Krajewski told Crux.

With historic wooden ceilings, pieces of art on the walls and now equipped with an elevator, inside it is nothing like homeless shelter.

"I asked a construction company to let the homeless workers do the renovation.

"They agreed a bit hesitantly but then they were so happy with their work, they decided to hire those people - the owner of the company said they rarely see people who would work so hard", said Krajewski.

Marking the World Day of the Poor at Mass in St Peter's Basilica, Francis lamented the lack of concern about the growing gap between the have's and have nots.

Dismayed over society's indifference towards poor people, Francis said that the 'greed of a few' is compounding the plight of the poor.

"We go our way in haste, without worrying that gaps are increasing, that the greed of a few is adding to the poverty of many others," he said.

These moves, a mark of his papacy, are not without criticism.

Francis' emphasis on mercy and charity is raising the ire of a small but noisy faction, among them, more conservative bishops and cardinals who would rather the pope concentrate of dogma and matters of faith rather than social issues.

Sources

• Associated Press
• Crux