Pope Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea, August 14, 2014. Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA.
Pope Francis marked the Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking by calling on governments to remove this “shameful wound” which has no place in “civil society”.
“Each one of us feels committed to being the voice of these, our brothers and sisters, humiliated in their dignity,” the Holy Father said to the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, moments after the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday. The Day of Prayer coincides with the feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita, the 19th century Sudanese nun who as a child had been a victim of slavery, the Pope noted.
Francis offered his encouragement to those working to end the trafficking of “men, women, and children” who are “enslaved, exploited, abused as instruments of work or pleasure, and often tortured and humiliated”.
He then called governments to action in “removing the cause of this shameful wound… a wound unworthy in a civil society.”
The United Nations estimates that as many as 2.5 million people are living as victims of human trafficking at any given time.
Full story: Pope Francis’ tough words against horrors of human trafficking
Source: Catholic News Agency
