Pope Francis paid a surprise visit to 20 former prostitutes, including seven Nigerians, on Friday.
He left the Vatican for the Papa Giovanni XXIII community in Rome, where a Catholic charity is giving shelter to women rescued from forced prostitution.
Apart from the Nigerians, six are from Romania, four from Albania, and the rest from Tunisia, Italy and Ukraine.
The pontiff, who has described human trafficking as “a crime against humanity”, sat down with the women for over an hour, listening to their stories.
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The visit fell under what has been termed Francis’ ‘Fridays of Mercy’, which see him carry an unscheduled act of mercy on a Friday in the month.
This takes place mainly in or near Rome throughout the pope’s Jubilee year, which started in December and runs to November.
“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,” the Vatican said in a statement.
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Previous destinations for Francis’ Fridays of Mercy include 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.
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