Cardinal reveals details of Church’s anti-trafficking work

A CHURCH-RUN shelter for trafficked women in London is flourishing, Cardinal Vincent Nichols revealed this week, writes Liz Dodd.

During a prayer service to mark the feast day of St Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of slaves and trafficked people, he revealed that 20 victims of trafficking have stayed at Bakhita House, a centre for women run by Caritas in the Diocese of Westminster, which opened in June 2015. Most were aged between 18 and 24.

He told students at Cardinal Pole school in Hackney, north-east London, that they should be alert to signs of trafficking in their communities. Later, he told The Tablet: “The evidence is quite clear that human trafficking is to be found in most parts. Children will be alert to what’s going on and if they’ve got eyes for it then they’ll talk.”

Bakhita House’s annual report, seen by The Tablet this week, revealed that most of the women it supported came from Romania, followed by Nigeria and India. It also revealed that one guest had given birth while she lived there and that three women had been repatriated.

Its accounts show that an unnamed trust pledged to donate £100,000 over three years. Donors identified in the report include Nicky Gumbel, developer of the popular Alpha Course and a vicar at Holy Trinity Brompton in west London; and Catholic philanthropists including John Studzinski and Stephen and Trixie Brenninkmeijer.

Cardinal Nichols, along with the head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, leads the Santa Marta Group, an anti-trafficking alliance of police chiefs and bishops from around the world endorsed by Pope Francis. It is understood that the group  is set to meet next in Rome in October.