Pope Francis Pays 20 Former Prostitutes A Visit

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Pope Francis left the Vatican on Friday to pay a shocking visit to a Catholic charity programme that is giving shelter to 20 women rescued from forced prostitution.

During the visit, the prominent cleric met 20 women at the Community Papa Giovanni XXIII in Rome – six from Romania, four from Albania, seven from Nigeria and the rest, each from Tunisia, Italy and Ukraine.

The Pope, who has once described human trafficking as “a crime against humanity”, sat down with the women for over an hour, listening to their stories.

A statement issued as regards to his visit read:

“Today’s visit by Pope Francis is another call to conscience to fight the trafficking of human beings, which the Holy Father has on several occasions defined as ‘a crime against humanity.”

Every one Friday per month, the pope pays special visits to honour the Jubilee of Mercy, an 11-month Catholic festival that ends in November.

Previous destinations for Francis’ Fridays of Mercy includes the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a migrant centre on the Greek island of Lesbos, and facilities around Rome for the elderly, mentally ill and recovering drug addicts.