The facility will be able to accommodate 30 people.

It is Francis's latest initiative to help those sleeping rough on Rome's streets.

The gesture follows the provision of a barber and showers near St Peter's Square.

The hostel, which will start operations after the Italian summer, will only be open at night and will be run by volunteers.

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Papal almoner Archbishop Konrad Krajewski has asked the office governing the Vatican City State to include showers in an already-approved project to remodel the restrooms.

Three shower stalls will be located in the restrooms a few steps north of Bernini's Colonnade, just behind the Vatican post office.

Towels and soap will be provided.

The joint initiative by Pope Francis and the papal almoner came about after an encounter last month.

Archbishop Krajewski spoke with a homeless man - named Franco - from Sardinia and discovered it was the man's fiftieth birthday.

He invited Franco to a restaurant for dinner, but the man declined, saying a restaurant would not let him in because of his odour.

But Archbishop Krajewski took Franco, who had been on the streets for 10 years, to a Chinese restaurant anyway and heard more of his story.

The Rome diocesan Caritas, the Community of Sant'Egidio and other organisations already offer shower facilities to the homeless in Rome, a homeless woman named Barbara said.

"But there are so many things you have to do. You have to get there at 4 in the morning to sign in. Then only 15 people get in each day," she said.

In addition, she said, because the number of homeless men is so much greater than the number of homeless women, many of the shower facilities are only for men or are open to women only a half day each week.

Archbishop Krajewski is visiting parishes in areas where homeless people gather and is encouraging them to install public showers if they have not already.

His office will help fund the building, he said.

Asked whether the sight of homeless people queuing for showers might put off tourists strolling through the colonnade at St Peter's, the Polish prelate said: "Throughout the history of Rome, the poor have always gathered around churches."

There are an estimated 8000 homeless people in Rome.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Telegraph
• Image: The Telegraph