Pope Francis has sent a special message to Catholics in England and Wales asking them to break the chains of captivity of those who have been human trafficked and to “bring comfort to those who have survived such inhumanity”.
The papal message and blessing comes as the Catholic Church in England and Wales prepares for a Day for Life on Sunday, 17 June.
It was sent to Bishop John Sherrington, the Bishop for Day for Life, by the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Edward Adams, on the instructions of the Secretariat of State of Pope Francis.
“The Holy Father appeals to us all: that we may open our eyes and be able to see the misery of those so deprived of their dignity and their freedom, and hear their cry for help,” reads the message. “In giving assurance of his prayers, His Holiness imparts to the organisers and participants of the Day for Life his Apostolic Blessing.”
Bishop Sherrington told The Tablet: "I am honoured and delighted that Pope Francis has given his apostolic blessing to the Day for Life. It shows the importance of this work of the Church. To see the dignity of each person and work to eliminate the scourge of human trafficking is a priority today."
The Church’s Day for Life is dedicated to raising awareness about the meaning and value of human life at every stage and in every condition. This year’s Day for Life aims to raise awareness of human trafficking, which is a key priority of Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
In his message, the Pope prays “that God might free all those who have been threatened, wounded or mistreated by the trade and trafficking of human beings”. He invokes the intercession of the Patron Saint of victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, St Josephine Bakhita.
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. Some time in February 1877, Josephine was kidnapped by Arab slave traders. For the next 12 years she would be bought, sold and given away over a dozen times.
Her Feast day is 8 February, the day she died in 1947. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 17 May 1992 and canonised by him on 1 October 20.
Bakhita House, owned by the Diocese of Westminster and managed by Caritas Westminster, is named after her. It provides women escaping human trafficking with the safety and support to allow them to begin the recovery process. Its services include emergency support, legal and financial assistance, mentoring, and help with accessing accommodation. Since opening in mid- 2015, it has welcomed and helped 78 women and five young children who have been rescued from trafficking.
The message to English and Welsh Catholics reflects the work on human trafficking done by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, which in recent years has developed the Santa Marta Group, headed by Cardinal Nichols.
The group is a global alliance of international police chiefs, bishops and religious communities working in partnership with civil society to eliminate human trafficking and modern slavery.
Now with members in more than 30 countries, the group is named after the Pope’s residence in Rome, where the Santa Marta Group’s founding members stayed in 2014 prior to signing, in Francis’s presence, a declaration of commitment.
Last month, Cardinal Nichols, the president of the Santa Marta Group, told a UN conference in New York that thanks to the group, collaboration between the Catholic Church and law enforcement officers to combat human slavery around the world is working thanks to an increasing atmosphere of trust.
Cardinal Nichols was the main speaker at the event entitled “Cops and Clergy Working Together: The Work of the Santa Marta Group in the Fight Against Human Trafficking Worldwide”. He told the conference that religious sisters had sometimes been wary of the police because they thought those they were helping might be open to prosecution for offences such as prostitution or not having the correct papers. But he added that since the group was formed in 2014, there had developed a common understanding that police investigations needed to target the traffickers, and that church support for victims could help police prosecutions.
To support this year’s Day for Life in England and Wales, there will be a mandatory second collection in parishes, with proceeds of the collection going to a range of causes that support life in all its forms, including the Anscombe Bioethics Centre.
Forty million people are being kept in conditions of modern slavery, including domestic servitude, forced labour, sexual exploitation or being used for their organs, with the numbers growing.
In the UK alone, it is estimated that each year there are more than 13,000 victims of trafficking.
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