A decent job, respect and social acceptance are a "sacred" right for every human being, Pope Francis said Tuesday during a visit to the central Italian textile town of Prato.
"The five Chinese men and two women who died two years ago in a blaze in Prato's industrial zone lived and slept inside the warehouse where they worked," Francis said, referring to a notorious incident in the city on 1 December, 2013.
"Their dormitory was made of plasterboard. This is a tragedy born of human exploitation, " Francis told some 5,000 people gathered in the cathedral square in Prato.
"This not a job worth having," he said, speaking off the cuff.
An estimated 30,000 people lined Prato's streets to greet the Francis during his one-hour visit to the city.
Prato's Bishop, Franco Agostinelli thanked Francis for his words.
"Italian and immigrant employers must fight daily against the black economy," Agostinelli told Adnkronos.
The head of the Italian parliament's counterfeited goods commission, centre-left Italian MP Susanna Cenni also hailed Francis' remarks.
"The pontiff's visit to Prato and his condemnation of exploitation and under-the table employment are significant," Cenni said.
Prato, with a population of 200,000, has historic ties to Italy's once-flourishing textile industry, although in recent years it has become a centre for Chinese-run garment factories producing low-cost clothes.
Some of the factories have been linked to organised crime or found to exploit workers in precarious conditions.
