A McDonald’s restaurant built into the ground floor of a Vatican-owned building facing St. Peter’s square has opened, despite protests, including from seven Cardinals whose apartments are above the store.
The deal with the Vatican’s real estate arm, ASPA, gives the Vatican €30,000 a month in rent, but that does not placate the protesting cardinals, who told the press that “by no means respectful of the architectural traditions of one of the most characteristic squares which look onto the colonnade of Saint Peters.”
It’s not the only Vatican deal with pop culture devils. The Vatican will soon have a branch of the Hard Rock Cafe, which will be moving into a former religious bookstore. At first, the store will only sell Hard Rock merchandise such as T-shirts and music memorabilia, but that may change.
They said Pope Francis would ‘modernize’ the church. Looks like it’s heading in that direction….