Schmalz, the St. Jacob’s, Ont.- based artist who created Jesus the Homeless, was at the Vatican on Nov. 20, where Pope Francis blessed the original five-foot model of the sculpture. Schmalz donated the model to the Vatican Archives and hopes to have it installed by Easter 2014. The plan is to install the sculpture between Castel Sant’Angelo and the street leading to St. Peter’s Square.

The first life-sized cast of the sculpture was installed at Regis College, the Jesuit School of Theology at the University of Toronto, as was first reported by The Catholic Register on March 10.

“Two weeks later (after the installation at Regis), the first Jesuit Pope is elected in the history of the Catholic Church,” said Schmalz.

He describes the sculpture as a “visual ambassador” for the work Pope Francis is calling people to, which is “to be more concerned with the marginalized.”

The model of the homeless Jesus was placed on a pedestal in St. Peter’s Square and, after his weekly general audience, the Pope touched the knee of the figure and said a short prayer before being introduced to Schmalz…With people from around the globe visiting Rome, he said, “to have that sculpture there is basically preaching that Gospel message to the world, and that’s phenomenal.”