Pope Francis on Monday
called for an end to centuries of prejudice against the Romani
Gypsy community but called on them to avoid "lies, swindles, and
fights".
At an audience with members of the ethnic Roma and Sinti,
Francis said "I'd like a new start for your people.
"The time has come to eradicate centuries of prejudice,
preconceptions and reciprocal diffidence that are often at the
base of discrimination, racism and xenophobia".
But the pope stressed that the Romani should not give
others an excuse to criticise them.
"You can do this if you are good Christians, avoiding all
that is not worthy of this name - falsehood, fraud, swindles and
fights," the pope said.
"Dear friends, don't give the media and the public the
chance to speak badly of you".
He also told the Romani pilgrims that they must send
their children to school.
Highlighting the fact that every person has the right to a
dignified life and a dignified job with access to education and
health care, he told those present that they have the
responsibility of building bridges with the rest of society in
the name of a "peaceful cohabitation" in which different
cultures and traditions can safeguard their values with an
attitude of openness, with dialogue and integration.
"We do not want to have to witness any more family
tragedies in which children die from cold or are burnt in fires"
he said.
"Nor do we want to see children who are used like objects
by depraved persons, or young people and women implicated in the
trafficking of drugs or people.
Francis exhorted the Roma, Sinti and other itinerant
peoples to become protagonists of fraternity and sharing in our
cities in which there is so much individualism.
Speaking of the future the pope said "children are your
most precious treasure" and he pointed out that education is at
the base of the healthy development of the person.
It is known, he said, that an insufficient level of
education of many young Romani people represents the main
obstacle in entering the world of work.
"Your children have the right to go to school, do not stop
them from doing so!" he said.
And noting that it is the responsibility of adults to make
sure their children obtain an education that will enable them to
become citizens who can fully participate in the social,
political and economic life of the country, Francis also asked
civil institutions to guarantee adequate formation courses for
young Gypsies, giving those families most in need the
possibility of being integrated in educational and labour
programmes.
Francis was speaking to some 7000 Roma and Sinti gathered
in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for an audience marking the
50th anniversary of the late pope Paul VI's historic meeting
with Roma people in a camp near Rome.
In other remarks Monday Francis reiterated his call on the
international community to work for peace in the Middle East.
"Your visit enables me to renew my heartfelt appeal to the
international community to adopt all valid strategies to reach
peace in countries devastated by hate," he told representatives
of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
He also promised prayers for "the beloved lands of Iraq
and Syria".
Francis said that he considered the end of war to be the
most worthy thing a person can work for.
"As Christians we remain profoundly convinced that the
ultimate aim that it most worthy for the person and the human
community is the abolition of war," Francis told a gathering of
military chaplains.
"We must always work to build bridges that unite and not
walls that separate," he added.
The pope was speaking after a closely watched synod on the
family ended at the weekend with a slim majority approving
communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, with bishops
empowered to rule on a case-by-case basis.
Both conservative and liberal Catholics have sought to
portray the outcome of the synod as a victory for their
positions.
Francis is set to issue a statement on the bishops'
recommendations in the coming months.
It may take the form of an encyclical.
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