Pope urges govts to crack down on child trafficking

Pope Francis on Wednesday spoke out against human trafficking especially as concerns the young in the day's general audience. He also urged protection of migrants.

"Today," he said before over 7,000 people, "is a day of prayer and reflection against human trafficking. This year it is dedicated especially to children and adolescents. I would like to encourage those in various ways help enslaved and abused minors to free them from such oppression. I hope that all those with government responsibility fight this plague with determination, giving a voice to our youngest brethren, whose dignity has been humiliated. 

Every possible effort is needed to weaken this shameful and intolerable crime." He went on to speak about St. Josephine Bakhita, a 19th-century Sudanese slave who after migrating to Europe became a nun, and asked those present to pray for the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority in Bangladesh. "These are good people, peaceful people," Francis said.

"They're not Christians, but they're good, our brothers and sisters. And they have been suffering for years. They've been tortured and killed, simply because they are continuing their traditions, their Muslim faith. Let us pray for them." Most of the estimated 1 million Rohingya do not have citizenship and are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even when their families have lived in Myanmar for generations. Communal violence in 2012 forced many to flee their homes and an estimated over 100,000 live in refugee camps. 

He went on to express his support for several international initiatives working against human trafficking. Francis has made a public appeal for the Rohingya at least four times previously: on May 19 and 24, 2015; on August 7, 2015; and September 14, 2015. Three days before, however, a UNHCR report was released in Geneva describing persecutions the Rohingya have suffered and noting abuse of children and massacres of infants.

 In speaking about Bakhita, he noted that she had been enslaved in Africa, "exploited and humiliated but she did not lose hope. She held onto her faith and ended up as a migrant in Europe." Born in 1869 in Darfur, Sudan, Bakhita died in Italy in 1947 and was better known as "Mother Moretta". She was declared a saint in 1999. Taken hostage at age 9 and sold as a slave, she arrived in Venice and when her masters decided to return to Sudan, she refused to go. An Italian court ruled in her favor. Bakhita was baptized in 1890 and became a nun three years later. 

In 1902 she was assigned to the Schio institute, where she stayed until her death. Pope Francis then focused on hope as a source of reciprocal comfort and peace, and noted that "no one learns to hope alone", stressing that compassion and forgiveness are essential to society and not only Christians.

ANSA