Germany Vatican Altar

Painter Michael Triegel poses for photos during an interview with The Associated Press at his studio in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025.

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Church altar featuring homeless man goes on display a stone's throw from his grave at the Vatican

Church altar featuring homeless man goes on display a stone's throw from his grave at the Vatican

In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking that he would make an ideal model for St. Peter if he ever needed to paint the first pope. Seven years on, the man’s likeness has gone on show a stone’s throw from his grave, a reunion of sorts that came about by improbable chance. The saga brings together religious reconciliation, a dispute over the location of an altar and a tragedy that caught the attention of Pope Francis: homeless German man Burkhard Scheffler’s death in 2022 on the edge of St. Peter’s Square.