(Vatican Radio) The exploitation and enslavement of children is the focus of a week of activities leading up to the February 8th world day of prayer for an end to human trafficking.
Three years ago, Pope Francis asked women and men religious to organize a day, on the feast of the Sudanese saint Josephine Bakhita, to raise awareness of the plight of millions of victims of human trafficking.
At a press conference on Wednesday sisters from the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) announced initiatives taking place in countries around the world, with a focus this year on the theme of children in slavery.
Here in Rome, activities include a seminar at the Gregorian University, a film evening, a prayer vigil at the Rome parish of Ognissanti on the Via Appia and participation in the Pope’s general audience.
To find out more about the focus for this year’s event, Philippa Hitchen spoke to the president of the UISG, Sr Carmen Sammut …..
Listen:
Sr Carmen recalls that the sisters asked the pope for a world day against slavery on the Church’s calendar and he entrusted them with the duty to organize a commemoration of trafficking victims.
She notes that ‘Talitha Kum’, the international network of religious against human trafficking, is present in around 80 countries where members mark the day of prayer as an important annual event.
Speaking of this year’s focus on trafficked children, Sr Carmen says it’s “the most horrible of things to think that a child is not given the possibility to be a child” but is taken instead into slavery for forced labour, sexual abuse or organ harvesting. She describes it as “really heartbreaking” but adds that the phenomenon is growing, due in part to growing poverty.
She recounts her experience of Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle telling her, tearfully, that he sees families and parents selling their children out of poverty. Also she notes that because of increasing numbers of migrants, there are also more unaccompanied children.
Talking about solutions, Sr Carmen says the media must create greater awareness that this is a problem happening in every single country, though very often we choose to ignore it. Secondly, she says, if demand for the products made from slave labour is removed, there’s a possibility of less demand for trafficked children.
Sr Carmen quotes Pope Francis’ words that “purchasing is not only an economic but also a moral action”, adding that we need to realise that we can make a difference by not buying certain products. The same with sexual exploitation, she says, if there’s “not so much demand for sexual services, especially from children”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican supermarket is supporting those affected by the earthquakes in central Italy by offering goods for sale made by local farmers in the region, especially the small town of Amatrice, which was hit hardest by the quake on 24 August 2016.
The Vatican supermarket can be used by employees, retirees, and others affiliated with the Vatican who are provided with a special card providing them access.
Immediately after the earthquake, Pope Francis sent members of the Vatican fire department to aid in rescue efforts, and medical personnel working at the Vatican also volunteered to help.
Nearly 300 people died in the August quake, and dozens of others have died in subsequent tremors.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday asked people to pray for all those in Religious and Consecrated Life, who have been called to profess the evangelical counsels. He was speaking on Wednesday during his General Audience , in anticipation of Thursday’s celebration of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which is also the World Day of Consecrated Life. “I ask you to pray for the priests, sisters, and brothers belonging to contemplative and apostolic Religious Institutes,” Pope Francis said. “Their life dedicated to the Lord, and their charismatic service, will bear abundant fruit for the good of the faithful, and for the evangelizing mission of the Church.” The Holy Father asked the faithful to pray that “through their witness of life, they may radiate to the world the love of Christ and the grace of the Gospel.” Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate Mass for the World Day of Consecrated Life on Thursday afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday invited Christians to “wear the hope of salvation like a helmet (1 Thess 5:8), in the knowledge that, because Christ is risen, the object of our hope is certain.” The Holy Father was quoting from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians during his weekly General Audience in the Paul VI Hall where he continued his catechesis on Christian hope. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
The Pope recalling the freshness and beauty of this first Christian proclamation described the community of Thessalonica at the time as one “ rooted in faith which celebrated with enthusiasm and joy the resurrection of the Lord Jesus”, despite its difficulties and the many trials. Pope Francis noted how this letter of St Paul is more timely than ever because, “before the mystery of death, and the loss of our loved ones, we Christians are challenged to hope more firmly in the Lord’s promise of eternal life.” Christian hope, the Pope continued, “is the expectation of something that has already been accomplished, and that will certainly be realized for each of us.” Giving an example, he spoke of the woman who when realizing she is pregnant, waits every day for the arrival of her baby. In that same hope, and in the communion of the Church, he added, “we pray too that those who have gone before us will live forever in Christ.” Concluding his catechesis, Pope Francis said, St. Paul writes: “Jesus died for us so that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him”. These words, he underlined, “are always a source of great consolation and peace.” Greeting pilgrims at the end of the audience, the Pope thanked the delegation from the World Catholic Movement for climate for their commitment to caring for our common home at a time of, what he called, a “serious socio-environmental crisis.” He also encouraged them to continue to build networks so that ‘the local churches respond with determination to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. ” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis during his General Audience on Wednesday continued his catechesis on Christian hope telling pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall that, “we Christians are challenged to hope more firmly in the Lord’s promise of eternal life.”
Below find the Pope’s words read out in English at the weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on Christian hope, today we turn to the earliest writing of the New Testament, Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. The Apostle writes to confirm this young Christian community in its faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, but he also speaks of the meaning of this mystery for the life of each believer. For Christ is the firstfruits of the future resurrection. Before the mystery of death, and the loss of our loved ones, we Christians are challenged to hope more firmly in the Lord’s promise of eternal life. Paul tells the Thessalonians to wear the hope of salvation like a helmet (1 Thess 5:8), in the knowledge that, because Christ is risen, the object of our hope is certain. Christian hope, then, is a way of life; we live daily in expectation of the resurrection. In that same hope, and in the communion of the Church, we pray too that those who have gone before us will live for ever in Christ. Let us ask the Lord to strengthen us in the sure expectation that one day we will be united with him, and all our loved ones, in the joy of the resurrection.
(from Vatican Radio)…