Introduction

According to the United Nations, FGM is concentrated in about 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East but is also practiced by immigrant populations elsewhere. More than four million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM this year, the U.N. says.

Francis, speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square for his weekly blessing and address, noted that the practice was often carried out in conditions that endangered a girl's health.

In a related appeal, Francis called for more efforts to stop human trafficking, particularly of women and girls for forced prostitution.

"This is a deep wound inflicted by the shameful search for gain without any respect for the human person," he said ahead of the Catholic Church's International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking this Tuesday.

"There are so many girls that we see on the streets who are not free. They are slaves of traffickers who send them to work and beat them if they don't return with money. This happens today, in our cities," he said.

They include Rome where authorities say criminal gangs lure women to Italy with the promise of jobs and then force them into prostitution, threatening to harm their families back home if they go to the police.

Calling both FGM and trafficking of persons, "wounds of humanity," Francis urged leaders "to act decisively to stop both the exploitation as well as humiliating practices that afflict above all women and girls".

Catholic nuns in Rome are at the forefront of fighting trafficking of women. In 2016, Francis visited a Rome safe house where a charity protects women freed from pimps.

Pope: Human trafficking an ‘open wound’ in the body of Christ and humanity

Pope Francis has released a video message on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking, marked in the Catholic Church on the feast of St Josephine Bakhita, 8 Feb.

By Vatican News staff reporter

Pope Francis is urging all to join the fight against the scourge of trafficking in women and girls saying it is violence.  It is a deep and open wound in the body of Christ and in the body of all humanity, which affects each one of us, he says in a video message on the occasion of the 8th World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking, Tuesday.

The Catholic Church’s annual observance was first introduced by Pope Francis in 2015, when he invited the women religious’ International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and the men religious’ Union of Superiors General (USG) to mark the day on 8 February, the liturgical memorial of St Josephine Bakhita. 

The United Nations, however, separately marks its own World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on 30 July.

Economic Interests

The Sudanese-born Italian Cannosian nun (1869 – 1947) was sold several times as a slave since she was 7 or 8, until she landed in Italy where she later became a Cannosian religious sister.  Declared a saint in 2000, she is the patron saint of Sudan and of human trafficking survivors.

The theme of the 8th World Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking is: “The power of care. The power of care. Women, the Economy and Trafficking in Persons."   

In his message, the Pope says the theme “invites us to consider the condition of women and girls, subjected to multiple forms of exploitation, including forced marriages and domestic and labour slavery”. He stresses that the thousands of women and girls who are trafficked every year point to the dramatic consequences of relational models based on discrimination and submission.

Inequality in dignity and rights

Talithakum, the international Catholic network against human trafficking, cites some grim figures from the United Nations to point to the inequality and injustice experienced by women. Women and girls account for 72 per cent of the identified victims of trafficking. Two-thirds of the world's illiterate population are women; 90 per cent of the employed ( ages 25 to 54) are men, while women make up less than two-thirds.  Thirty per cent of young women are not in education, employment or attending vocational training.

In his message, the Holy Father laments that the organization of societies around the world still continue to deny women the same dignity and rights as that of men.  Women are "doubly poor”, suffering “situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence”, because they have fewer opportunities to defend their rights.

Domestic and sexual exploitation

According to UN figures, most victims are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In 2018, 50 per cent of the victims detected were trafficked for sexual exploitation and 38 per cent were trafficked for forced labour.  Female victims continue to be the primary targets, with women making up 46% and girls 19% of all victims of trafficking.  Globally, one in every three victims detected is a child.

In his message, the Holy Father points out that “trafficking in persons, through domestic and sexual exploitation, violently returns women and girls to their supposed role as subordinates to the provision of domestic and sexual services, to their role as providers of care and dispensers of pleasure, which re-proposes a pattern of relationships marked by the power of men over women”. This exists even today at a high level.

“Human trafficking is violence! The violence suffered by every woman and every girl is an open wound in the body of Christ, in the body of all humanity, it is a deep wound that also affects each one of us.”

The transforming power of God’s care

Noting that there are many women who have the courage to rebel against violence, Pope Francis invites men to join the battle. “We men are also called to do so, to say no to all violence, including violence against women and girls. And together we can and must fight to ensure that human rights are interpreted in a specific way, respecting diversity and recognizing the dignity of each person, with a special concern for those whose fundamental rights are violated.”

The way to this transformation, the Pope says, is shown by Saint Bakhita, whose life proves that  “change is possible when we allow ourselves to be transformed by the care that God has for each of us”.  “It is the care of mercy, it is the care of love that changes us in our depths and makes us capable of welcoming others as brothers and sisters.”

Human dignity

The Pope points out that recognizing the dignity of each person is the first act of care, which benefits everyone - those who give and those who receive. It generates reciprocity and is not a unidirectional action.

In this regard, he cites the case of Bakhita.  God took care of her, accompanying her in the process of healing the wounds caused by slavery until he made her heart, mind and inner self capable of reconciliation, freedom and tenderness.

Commitment to transformation and care

The Pope thus encourages every woman and every girl who is committed to transformation and care, in school, in the family, in society. He also urges every man and every young person to join this process of transformation, holding up the example of the Good Samaritan "who is not ashamed to bend down over his brother and take care of him”.

This year’s observance of World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Trafficking, the Pope says, is to the call to men and women to care.  “Together we can grow an economy of care and oppose with all our strength every form of exploitation of trafficking in persons.”

Fighting money, power

Pope Francis concludes his video message thanking participants in the various initiatives of the annual observance worldwide and encouraging them in the fight against human trafficking and all forms of slavery and exploitation. He invites them to keep alive their indignation against human trafficking with determination in the face of violence, without surrendering to the corruption of money and power.

Pope says female genital mutilation affronts dignity, must end

VATICAN CITY, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Pope Francis condemned female genital mutilation and trafficking of women for prostitution on Sunday, calling them humiliating affronts to women's dignity and urging officials to do everything possible to end both.

"This practice, which is unfortunately common in various parts of the world, humiliates the dignity of a woman and gravely attacks her physical integrity," Francis said, speaking on the U.N. International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

According to the United Nations, FGM is concentrated in about 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East but is also practiced by immigrant populations elsewhere. More than four million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM this year, the U.N. says.

Francis, speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square for his weekly blessing and address, noted that the practice was often carried out in conditions that endangered a girl's health.

In a related appeal, Francis called for more efforts to stop human trafficking, particularly of women and girls for forced prostitution.

"This is a deep wound inflicted by the shameful search for gain without any respect for the human person," he said ahead of the Catholic Church's International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking this Tuesday.

"There are so many girls that we see on the streets who are not free. They are slaves of traffickers who send them to work and beat them if they don't return with money. This happens today, in our cities," he said.

They include Rome where authorities say criminal gangs lure women to Italy with the promise of jobs and then force them into prostitution, threatening to harm their families back home if they go to the police.

Calling both FGM and trafficking of persons, "wounds of humanity," Francis urged leaders "to act decisively to stop both the exploitation as well as humiliating practices that afflict above all women and girls".

Catholic nuns in Rome are at the forefront of fighting trafficking of women. In 2016, Francis visited a Rome safe house where a charity protects women freed from pimps.

Church’s gratitude

The Pope then urged all Catholics to pray for the women who have consecrated their lives to God, and to express their appreciation for their courage and mission.

“Thank you,” Pope Francis told the Church’s consecrated women,” for what you are, for what you do, and for how you do it.”

Vocational dynamism

The Pope Video for this month was produced with the collaboration of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), according to a press release accompanying the prayer intention.

The organization brings together over 1,900 religious congregations, representing over 630,000 women religious throughout the world.

Sr. Jolanta Kafka, President of the UISG, said the Pope’s prayer intention for February encourages women religious to continue in their vocation of service to the Church.

“We share with [young people] the dynamism of the vocation to which we are called, to participate in the joy of the Gospel and in hope, in a world where we are all brothers and sisters,” she said.

Opportunity to know religious women better

Fr. Frederic Fornos, SJ, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, praised the work of the Church’s consecrated women, adding that he received his religious formation alongside many women religious.

At the Pope’s request, he said, February “is a good occasion for all of us to get to know them better in their diversity and to discover their contribution to the mission of the Church and the challenges of our time.”

Men must join fight against human trafficking, pope says

Blessing Obuson, 19, from Nigeria, rescued from human traffickers, poses for a portrait in a shelter on the outskirts of Moscow in this Feb. 21, 2019, file photo. (Credit: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters via CNS.)

ROME — Male-female relationships based on “discrimination and submission” lead to the exploitation and humiliation of thousands of women and girls each year, Pope Francis said.

“Human trafficking, through domestic or sexual exploitation, violently relegates women and girls to their supposed role of subordination in the provision of domestic or sexual services and to their role as providers of care and dispensers of pleasure, which proposes yet again a model of relationships marked by the power of the male gender over the female,” Pope Francis said in a video message.

Marking the Feb. 8 International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking and the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave, Pope Francis insisted, “The violence suffered by every woman and every girl is an open wound on the body of Christ, on the body of all humanity; it is a deep wound that affects every one of us, too.”

“The thousands of women and girls who are trafficked every year denounce the dramatic consequences of relational models based on discrimination and submission,” the pope said, “and it is not an exaggeration — there are thousands of them!”

Praising the women and women religious around the world dedicated to fighting human trafficking, coerced prostitution, forced marriage and slave labor, Pope Francis said men must get involved as well, “opposing with all our might every form of exploitation in human trafficking.”

Celebrating a Mass for St. Bakhita’s feast day at the Domus Australia in Rome, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said, “We like to think of slavery as something from ancient Egypt or Rome, or something it took a civil war to stop in America around the time of Josephine’s birth. But no, ‘this is happening in our own cities today,’ the pope reminds us. He asks as to pray and work where we can to prevent the exploitation of people, especially women and girls.”

The archbishop noted how international organizations estimate “over 40 million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked around the world today, controlled, treated as property, exploited sexually or for their organs or labor, pressed into service as beggars, drug mules, even combatants.”

The problem is not limited to a few countries or regions of the world, he said, noting there are thousands of victims in Italy and in Australia.

But, he said, “I’m proud to say that the Archdiocese of Sydney has led the way in Australia in slavery-proofing its supply lines, educating our people and the public about the issue, lobbying government for greater protections, and providing assistance to survivors.”

Vatican City — Male-female relationships based on "discrimination and submission" lead to the exploitation and humiliation of thousands of women and girls each year, Pope Francis said.

"Human trafficking, through domestic or sexual exploitation, violently relegates women and girls to their supposed role of subordination in the provision of domestic or sexual services and to their role as providers of care and dispensers of pleasure, which proposes yet again a model of relationships marked by the power of the male gender over the female," Francis said in a video message.

Marking the Feb. 8 International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking and the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave, Francis insisted, "The violence suffered by every woman and every girl is an open wound on the body of Christ, on the body of all humanity; it is a deep wound that affects every one of us, too."

"The thousands of women and girls who are trafficked every year denounce the dramatic consequences of relational models based on discrimination and submission," the pope said, "and it is not an exaggeration — there are thousands of them!"

Praising the women and women religious around the world dedicated to fighting human trafficking, coerced prostitution, forced marriage and slave labor, Francis said men must get involved as well, "opposing with all our might every form of exploitation in human trafficking."

Celebrating a Mass for St. Bakhita's feast day at the Domus Australia in Rome, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said, "We like to think of slavery as something from ancient Egypt or Rome, or something it took a civil war to stop in America around the time of Josephine's birth. But no, 'this is happening in our own cities today,' the pope reminds us. He asks as to pray and work where we can to prevent the exploitation of people, especially women and girls."

"The thousands of women and girls who are trafficked every year denounce the dramatic consequences of relational models based on discrimination and submission."

— Pope Francis

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The archbishop noted how international organizations estimate "over 40 million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked around the world today, controlled, treated as property, exploited sexually or for their organs or labor, pressed into service as beggars, drug mules, even combatants."

The problem is not limited to a few countries or regions of the world, he said, noting there are thousands of victims in Italy and in Australia.

But, he said, "I'm proud to say that the Archdiocese of Sydney has led the way in Australia in slavery-proofing its supply lines, educating our people and the public about the issue, lobbying government for greater protections, and providing assistance to survivors."