Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has sent a message to the Santa Marta Group, an
initiative launched by the Holy Father in the battle against human
trafficking, involving the security forces of various countries,
episcopates, social organisations and representatives of various
religious confessions. The group is currently gathered at the San
Lorenzo del Escorial in Spain, a meeting inaugurated this Friday by
Queen Sofia and attended by cardinals, bishops, social activists and
around fifty heads of police from around the world.
In the short time of its existence,
writes Francis, this worthy group has made significant achievements
and is called upon to play a decisive role in the eradication of
human trafficking and modern slavery. He recalls that during the last
year there have been important institutional changes that have
without doubt supported its activity, starting with the meeting of
mayors in Vatican City on 21 July, in which key figures signed a
declaration expressing their commitment to eliminating the new forms
of slavery that constitute a crime against humanity.
He also mentions the recent approval of
the Agenda 2030, with the new United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals, which include the adoption of immediate and effective means
for eradicating forced labour, putting an end to modern forms of
slavery and human trafficking and ensuring the prohibition and
elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including the
recruitment and deployment of child soldiers, with a view to putting
an end to all forms of child labour by 2025.
The Pope also refers to his address to
the United Nations in New York on 25 September, in which he affirmed
that the world demands of government leaders “a will which is
effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate
measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and
thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of
social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences. …
Such is the magnitude of these situations and their toll in innocent
lives, that we must avoid every temptation to fall into a
declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences”.
“Today the 193 states of the United Nations have a new moral
imperative to combat human trafficking, a true crime against
humanity. Collaboration between bishops and the civil authorities,
each in accordance with his own mission and character and with the
aim of discovering best practice for the fulfilment of this delicate
task, is a decisive step to ensuring that the will of governments
reaches the victims in a direct, immediate, constant, effective and
concrete way”.
“For my part, I pray that God
Almighty grant you the grace of carrying forward the delicate,
humanitarian and Christian mission of healing the open and painful
wounds of humanity, which are also Christ's wounds. I assure you of
all my support and my prayer, and the support and prayer of the
faithful of the Catholic Church. With God's help, and your
collaboration, the indispensable service of the Santa Marta Group
will be able to free the victims of new forms of slavery,
rehabilitate them, along with the imprisoned and the marginalised,
unmasking the traffickers and those who create this market, and
provide effective assistance to cities and nations; a service for the
common good and the promotion of human dignity, able to bring out the
best in every person and every citizen”.
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