Cardinals Protest McDonald's Planned For St. Peter's Square
McDonald's has plans to open a new restaurant next to St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, but some Catholic cardinals are not loving it.
According to The Local Italy, the McDonald's is planned to be open in a 5,800-square-foot site right next to the plaza, to the right of St. Peter's Basilica, and allowing it to be there would earn the Vatican about $33,000 a month in rent. The cardinals who live above the proposed McDonald's do not think it's worth it.
Seven cardinals live above the proposed McD's, and others say that the burger chain would damage the architectural character of the historic place. At least one cardinal is reportedly looking for a papal intervention, and has sent Pope Francis a letter asking him to bar the McDonald's from going forward.
Not all cardinals object to the plan, though. Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, head of the Vatican's real estate, said it is perfectly legal and reasonable to lease the site to McDonald's, and that he doesn't see anything wrong with it.