A short note from Pope Francis was the catalyst for a major initiative by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences that sets out the social and humanitarian needs of those trafficked When the UK Home Secretary Theresa May’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 was squeezed onto the statute book, obtaining royal assent on 26 March, it seemed as if it was finished business. Its most signal achievement, the creation of an independent anti-slavery commissioner, was already a done deal: Kevin Hyland – the perfect choice for the post – had been appointed several weeks earlier. However, to many of us working in the Church, this act, with its heavy emphasis on strengthening criminal law, was far from the end of the affair. The act works lopsidedly, on the “supply” of rather tha