Cardinals flinch at McDonald's setting up near Vatican
Megan Williams | CBC News | Posted: October 16, 2016 5:11 PM | Last Updated: October 17, 2016
Deal will bring about $40,000 a month into Vatican coffers
The Golden Arches are coming to the Vatican's neighbourhood in Rome.
McDonald's will rent a building near St. Peter's Square to house one of its fast-food restaurants.
The move is sparking revolt within the hushed halls of the Vatican.
While McDonald's may provide a quick and cheap meal for some of the thousands of tourists who travel through St. Peter's Square each day, Catholic Church cardinals who live above where the fast-food joint is set to go in are not lovin' it.
The Vatican's real estate agency brokered the deal, which will bring about $40,000 a month into Vatican coffers.
But that hasn't stopped the cardinals from expressing outrage at the move, with one calling the decision to rent the space to McDonald's "perverse."
Italian cardinal Elio Sgreccia said the move flew in the face of architectural tradition in an area dotted with historic squares.
Italy's La Repubblica daily reports that Sgreccia does not live in the building but was speaking on behalf of the seven cardinals who do make their home above the rental site.
The local residents' association agrees with the cardinals. It has complained that the area around St. Peter's Square is already swamped with tourists and that adding a McDonald's will only make things worse.
There is no word yet on when McDonald's is expected to move into the ground-floor space.
Thirty years ago, Italy's first McDonald's opened in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, near the 18th-century Spanish Steps.
Protests ensued, with hundreds of people objecting to a move toward what they saw as the Americanization of Italian food and Italy itself.