Rome's homeless are about to get some TLC.

The Vatican is finishing renovations on public restrooms just off St Peter's Square which will include three showers and a barber shop for the homeless.

Each "homeless pilgrim", as Vatican Radio called them, will receive a kit including a towel, change of underwear, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, razor and shaving cream.

The showers will be open every day but Wednesday when the piazza is full for the Pope's general audience.

Haircuts will be available on Mondays. Rome's barber shops are closed on Mondays, so barbers volunteering on their day off and students from a local beauty school will be donating their time.

Pope Francis's alms-giver, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, said the project is necessary because the homeless are often shunned for their hygiene.

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