This immense task, which calls for courage, patience and perseverance,   
   deserves the appreciation of the whole Church and society. Yet, of itself, it   
   is not sufficient to end the scourge of the exploitation of human persons.   
   There is also need for a threefold commitment on the institutional level: to   
   prevention, to victim protection and to the legal prosecution of perpetrators.   
   Moreover, since criminal organisations employ global networks to achieve their   
   goals, efforts to eliminate this phenomenon also demand a common and, indeed,   
   a global effort on the part of various sectors of society.   
    States must ensure that their own legislation truly respects the dignity of   
   the human person in the areas of migration, employment, adoption, the movement   
   of businesses offshore and the sale of items produced by slave labour. There   
   is a need for just laws which are centred on the human person, uphold   
   fundamental rights and restore those rights when they have been violated. Such   
   laws should also provide for the rehabilitation of victims, ensure their   
   personal safety, and include effective means of enforcement which leave no   
   room for corruption or impunity. The role of women in society must also be   
   recognised, not least through initiatives in the sectors of culture and social   
   communications.   
    Intergovernmental organisations, in keeping with the principle of   
   subsidiarity, are called to coordinate initiatives for combating the   
   transnational networks of organised crime which oversee the trafficking of   
   persons and the illegal trafficking of migrants. Cooperation is clearly needed   
   at a number of levels, involving national and international institutions,   
   agencies of civil society and the world of finance.   
    Businesses have a duty to ensure dignified working conditions and adequate   
   salaries for their employees, but they must also be vigilant that forms of   
   subjugation or human trafficking do not find their way into the distribution   
   chain. Together with the social responsibility of businesses, there is also   
   the social responsibility of consumers. Every person ought to have the   
   awareness that 'purchasing is always a moral - and not simply an economic -   
   act'.   
    Organisations in civil society, for their part, have the task of awakening   
   consciences and promoting whatever steps are necessary for combating and   
   uprooting the culture of enslavement.   
    In recent years, the Holy See, attentive to the pain of the victims of   
   trafficking and the voice of the religious congregations which assist them on   
   their path to freedom, has increased its appeals to the international   
   community for cooperation and collaboration between different agencies in   
   putting an end to this scourge. Meetings have also been organised to draw   
   attention to the phenomenon of human trafficking and to facilitate cooperation   
   between various agencies, including experts from the universities and   
   international organisations, police forces from migrants' countries of origin,   
   transit, or destination, and representatives of ecclesial groups which work   
   with victims. It is my hope that these efforts will continue to expand in   
   years to come.   
    Globalising fraternity, not slavery or indifference   
    6. In her 'proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society', the Church   
   constantly engages in charitable activities inspired by the truth of the human   
   person. She is charged with showing to all the path to conversion, which   
   enables us to change the way we see our neighbours, to recognise in every   
   other person a brother or sister in our human family, and to acknowledge his   
   or her intrinsic dignity in truth and freedom. This can be clearly seen from   
   the story of Josephine Bakhita, the saint originally from the Darfur region in   
   Sudan who was kidnapped by slave-traffickers and sold to brutal masters when   
   she was nine years old. Subsequently - as a result of painful experiences -   
   she became a 'free daughter of God' thanks to her faith, lived in religious   
   consecration and in service to others, especially the most lowly and helpless.   
   This saint, who lived at the turn of the twentieth century, is even today an   
   exemplary witness of hope for the many victims of slavery; she can support the   
   efforts of all those committed to fighting against this 'open wound on the   
   body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ'.   
    In the light of all this, I invite everyone, in accordance with his or her   
   specific role and responsibilities, to practice acts of fraternity towards   
   those kept in a state of enslavement. Let us ask ourselves, as individuals and   
   as communities, whether we feel challenged when, in our daily lives, we meet   
   or deal with persons who could be victims of human trafficking, or when we are   
   tempted to select items which may well have been produced by exploiting   
   others. Some of us, out of indifference, or financial reasons, or because we   
   are caught up in our daily concerns, close our eyes to this. Others, however,   
   decide to do something about it, to join civic associations or to practice   
   small, everyday gestures - which have so much merit! - such as offering a kind   
   word, a greeting or a smile. These cost us nothing but they can offer hope,   
   open doors, and change the life of another person who lives clandestinely;   
   they can also change our own lives with respect to this reality.   
    We ought to recognise that we are facing a global phenomenon which exceeds   
   the competence of any one community or country. In order to eliminate it, we   
   need a mobilisation comparable in size to that of the phenomenon itself. For   
   this reason I urgently appeal to all men and women of good will, and all those   
   near or far, including the highest levels of civil institutions, who witness   
   the scourge of contemporary slavery, not to become accomplices to this evil,   
   not to turn away from the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, our fellow   
   human beings, who are deprived of their freedom and dignity. Instead, may we   
   have the courage to touch the suffering flesh of Christ, revealed in the faces   
   of those countless persons whom he calls 'the least of these my brethren'.   
    We know that God will ask each of us: What did you do for your brother? The   
   globalisation of indifference, which today burdens the lives of so many of our   
   brothers and sisters, requires all of us to forge a new worldwide solidarity   
   and fraternity capable of giving them new hope and helping them to advance   
   with courage amid the problems of our time and the new horizons which they   
   disclose and which God places in our hands".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    "Love is our mission: the family, fully alive": theme of the 7th World   
   Meeting of Families   
    Vatican City, 10 December 2014 (VIS) - The 7th World Meeting of Families will   
   take place from 22 to 27 September 2015 in Philadelphia, U.S.A., and its theme   
   will be "Love is our mission: the family fully alive", as announced by Pope   
   Francis in a letter addressed to Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the   
   Pontifical Council for the Family, in which he also confirms his attendance at   
   the event.   
    "The mission of the Christian family, today as in the past, is that of   
   announcing God's love to the world, with the strength of the nuptial   
   Sacrament. From this same announcement a living family is born and is   
   constructed, that places love at the centre of all its human and spiritual   
   dynamism. If, as St. Irenaeus said, 'Gloria Dei vivens homo', also a family   
   that lives fully its vocation and mission, with the Lord's grace, renders   
   glory to Him".   
    Francis remarked that during the recent Synod on the family the most urgent   
   issues affecting the family in our society were identified, and he underlined   
   that "we cannot qualify a family with ideological concepts, we cannot speak   
   about a conservative family or a progressive family. The family is the family!   
   The values and virtues of the family, its essential truths, are the strong   
   points on which the family nucleus rests, and they cannot be called into   
   question". We are required, instead, to "review our style of life, that is   
   always open to the risk of being 'contaminated' by a worldly mentality -   
   individualist, consumerist, hedonistic - and to rediscover the high road, to   
   live and to propose the greatness and beauty of marriage and the joy and being   
   and forming a family".   
    Both the indications given in the Final Report of the Synod and those that   
   guide the path to the October 2015 Ordinary Assembly "invite us to continue in   
   our efforts in announcing the Gospel of marriage and the family, and of   
   experiencing the pastoral proposals in the social and cultural context in   
   which we live. The challenges of this context stimulate us to broaden our   
   capacity for faithful love open to life, to communion, to mercy, to sharing   
   and to solidarity", concluded Pope Francis, exhorting married couples,   
   priests, and associations to let themselves "be guided by the Word of God, on   
   which there rest the foundations of the holy edifice of the family, domestic   
   Church and family of God".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 10 December 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Rev. Fr.   
   Eduardo Vieira dos Santos and Rev. Fr. Devair Araujo da Fonseca as auxiliaries   
   of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo (area 655, population 6,633,912, Catholics   
   4,776,416, priests 995, permanent deacons 72, religious 2,316), Brazil.   
    The bishop-elect Eduardo Vieira dos Santos was born in Bom Sucesso, Brazil in   
   1965 and was ordained a priest in 2000. He holds a licentiate in canon law and   
   has served in a number of pastoral roles, including: pastoral assistant,   
   parish priest of the "Sao Joao Gualberto" parish, chaplain of the Parque   
   Gethsemani cemetery, coordinator of extraordinary ministry of the Communion   
   for the archdiocese of Sao Paulo and vice rector of the Sao Paulo seminary of   
   theology. He is currently archdiocesan chanceller of parish priest of the   
   Cathedral of Sao Paulo.   
    The bishop-elect Devair Araujo da Fonseca was born in Franca, Brazil in 1968   
   and was ordained a priest in 1998. He holds a licentiate in dogmatic theology   
   and has served in a number of pastoral roles, including: parish vicar, parish   
   priest in the "Sao Crispim" parish, rector of the "Nossa Senhora do Carmo"   
   diocesan seminary, chaplain of Carmelo de Santa Teresa, professor at the Joao   
   XXIII Institute of Theology, secretary and president of the OSIB (Organisation   
   of Seminaries and Institutes of Brazil). He is currently parish priest of the   
   "Sao Jose" parish in Orlandia and diocesan coordinator for pastoral ministry.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)