ROME (ITALPRESS) – “It is not acceptable what we have unfortunately seen almost every day in recent times, namely children who
die under bombs, sacrificed to the idols of power, ideology, and nationalistic interests. In reality, nothing
is worth the life of a child. To kill the little ones is to deny the future.” So says Pope Francis, in his address to the
participants at the International Summit on Children’s Rights, entitled “Let’s Love and Protect Them,” organized by the
Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day and being held today in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican.
“In some cases,” he recalled, “minors themselves are forced to fight under the influence of drugs. Even in countries where there is no war, violence between criminal gangs becomes just as deadly for children and often leaves them orphaned and marginalized.” “Today,” the Pope continued, “more than forty million children are displaced by conflict and about one hundred million are homeless. There is the drama of child slavery: about one hundred and sixty million children are victims of forced labor, trafficking, abuse and exploitation of all kinds, including forced marriages. There are millions of migrant children, sometimes with families but often alone: the phenomenon of unaccompanied minors is increasingly frequent and serious.” Among the factors cited by Pope Francis that trample on rights is also abortion: “In the name of this logic of discard, in which the human being becomes omnipotent, unborn life is sacrificed through the homicidal practice of abortion. Abortion suppresses the lives of children and cuts off the source of hope of the whole society.”
-photo Photogram Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
Pope “Nothing is worth the life of a child. To kill the little ones is to deny the future.”
