Encouraged in a special way since 2015 by Pope Francis, many Christian communities celebrate, around February 8—the liturgical memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita—a World Day of Prayer and Reflection on the appalling reality of human trafficking. This crime affects around fifty million people worldwide, 80% of whom are women and girls.
As in previous years, on February 4, the Day of Human Fraternity, several Claretian missionaries from the General Curia participated in an ecumenical prayer vigil against human trafficking in Rome. This year, the vigil was presided over by Cardinal Fabio Baggio. The assembly, predominantly composed of women, filled the beautiful Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere and listened to the powerful testimonies of several individuals who have personally suffered from trafficking.
Two courageous women from Kenya and Nigeria shared their experiences. One of them, accompanied by her husband, recounted how she was betrayed by her family, sold, tortured, raped, and forced into prostitution, enduring successive horrors in Libya and Italy before finally rebuilding her life and helping others.
The beautiful liturgy included the symbolic gesture of giving each participant a grain of sand, accompanied by an invitation for everyone to become grains of sand that disrupt the machinery of death, trafficking, and destruction.
These events, held worldwide, intensify in the first days of February. On February 7, a “virtual pilgrimage” of several hours will take place, inviting people to join in prayer. Pope Francis will meet with representatives of Talitha Kum, the international network of consecrated life against trafficking, in an audience attended by Fr. Antonio Llamas, CMF, Secretary General of JPIC.
As it has done in past years, the JPIC Secretariat, in collaboration with the Claretian Family, has distributed prayer materials available in English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Italian. These materials include references to several statements by Father Claret on slavery.
For more information:
preghieracontrotratta.org
talithakum.info
Source: SOMI General Team
