Pope Francis on Friday met ex-prostitutes at a shelter in Rome who were rescued from the sex trade after being trafficked from their homelands including Romania, Albania, Nigeria, Tunisia and Ukraine.
All of the 20 women were victims of severe physical abuse during their ordeals and are living under protection. Three of the them were from Italy. The shelter is run by the Pope John the 23rd community.
Francis has described human trafficking as “a crime against humanity” and “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ”, the Vatican said in a statement.
The pontiff has made a series of visits during the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year of Mercy including with the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, the gravely ill, migrants, refugees and drug addicts.
