Msgr. Júlio Lancellotti, 72, is known as “father of the poor” and ministers in São Paulo, the nation’s largest city.

Saying that “social programs don’t work,” the priest is urging Brazilians to “move from hostility to hospitality” toward the homeless. Legislation named in his honor would ban “hostile construction techniques and physical equipment to distance and restrict the use of public spaces by homeless people,” according to the report.