Amid pope's big Holy Year, overtourism aggravates housing crisis
Voice of America
FILE - Pilgrims crowd St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, May 30, 1998, on Pentecost Day. FILE - A view of the construction site of the new 25.5-kilometer Metro C subway main hub in Piazza Venezia in central Rome, May 23, 2024. FILE - People gather at the Fori Imperiali avenue, with the Colosseum in the background, during an event celebrating the ban on private vehicles, in Rome, Aug. 3, 2013.
When Pope Francis left the Vatican earlier this month for his traditional Christmastime outing downtown, he acknowledged what many Romans have been complaining about for months: That his big plans for a Holy Year had turned their city into a giant construction pit, with traffic-clogging roadworks tearing up major thoroughfares, scaffolding covering prized monuments and short-term rentals gobbling up apartment blocks.
FILE - The American and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Zhangjiakou, China, on Feb. 2, 2022.
FILE - Pakistani military personnel stand beside a surface-to-surface ballistic missile during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad on March 23, 2019. A White House official said on Dec. 19, 2024, that Pakistan is developing missile capabilities that could reach the U.S.
Macao's new leader, Sam Hou Fai, left, is sworn in by China's President Xi Jinping during an inauguration ceremony as part of marking the 25th anniversary of Macao's handover from Portugal to China, in Macao, Dec. 20, 2024.
FILE - The Russian oil tanker Volgoneft-147 stands in Muscat's Mina al-Fahl port, Feb. 7, 2000.
Chinese military personnel line up during the Golden Dragon military exercise in Svay Chok village, Kampong Chhnang province, north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 30, 2024.
A view of the launch event for the "New Mogadishu," a development initiative that aims to reshape the capital's economic landscape, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 19, 2024. (Somali National News Agency)
Vietnamese military officials look at S-125-2TM anti-aircraft missile launchers and ammunition during the Vietnam 2024 International Defense Expo in Hanoi on Dec. 19, 2024.
FILE - People examine photos as they search for missing or deceased people on the wall outside the morgue of Al-Mojtahed Hospital in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 11, 2024.
France's President Emmanuel Macron visits the Kavani district in Mamoudzou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Dec. 19, 2024, following Cyclone Chido's passage over the archipelago. A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks with children during his visit at the Kavani district in Mamoudzou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Dec. 19, 2024, following the Cyclone Chido's passage over the archipelago. A child sleeps at the Lycee des Lumires where he found refuge, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Dec. 19, 2024.
FILE - A Pakistani-made Shaheen-III missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, is displayed during a military parade in Islamabad, March 23, 2022.
FILE - The Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is anchored near Jutland, Denmark, Nov. 20, 2024. On Dec. 19, Denmark announced that China allowed investigators from four European nations to board the ship, which is suspected in the breach of undersea cables.