VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 62   
   DATE 27-03-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope Expresses Solidarity with Families in Iraq and Nigeria   
   - Pope to Receive President of Italy and to Visit Prato and Florence   
   - Pope Meets 150 Homeless who Visited Sistine Chapel Yesterday   
   - Respect for Refugee Children: Legal Identity, Education   
   - Freedoms of Religion and Expression: Adopting an Ethics of Responsibility   
      
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    Pope Expresses Solidarity with Families in Iraq and Nigeria   
   Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Pope Francis has a constant concern for the   
   situation of Christian families and other groups of victims who have been   
   expelled from their homes and villages, particularly in the city of Mosul and   
   the Nineveh plains, many of whom have taken refuge in the autonomous region of   
   Iraqi Kurdistan. The Pope prays for them and hopes they can return and resume   
   their lives in the lands and places where they have lived and built good   
   relationships for hundreds of years.   
   In this coming Holy Week, these families are sharing together with Christ the   
   unjust violence of which they have been made victims, participating in the   
   suffering of Christ himself.   
   In a desire to be close to these families, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of   
   the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is returning to Iraq as a   
   sign of nearness, affection, andunity in prayer with them.   
   The families of the Diocese of Rome, united with their bishop in the feeling of   
   nearness and solidarity with these families, through a special collection in   
   the   
   parishes, are sending the traditional Easter cakes in the shape of a dove   
   (colomba cake) to share the joy of Easter and as a herald of good based on the   
   faith in the Resurrection of Christ.   
   The Holy Father, moreover, makes himself present in a concrete way with a   
   tangible sign of solidarity. Not wanting to forget the suffering of the   
   families   
   in northern Nigeria either, he has also sent a similar sign of solidarity   
   through the local Bishops? Conference.   
      
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    Pope to Receive President of Italy and to Visit Prato and Florence   
   Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? On 18 April, Pope Francis will receive   
   President of Italy Sergio Mattarella for the first time in an official visit to   
   the Vatican. President Mattarella was elected 3 February of this year. The   
   visit   
   has been confirmed by the Holy See Press Office as well as the pastoral visits   
   that the Holy Father will make to the Italian cities of Prato and Florence on   
   10   
   November on the occasion of the 5th National Ecclesial Congress of the Italian   
   Episcopal Conference (CEI) that will be held from 9-13 November. The Congress?s   
   theme is ?A New Humanism through Jesus Christ?.   
      
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    Pope Meets 150 Homeless who Visited Sistine Chapel Yesterday   
   Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Yesterday afternoon, shortly after 5:00pm,   
   Pope Francis went to the Sistine Chapel to greet the 150 homeless persons who   
   had been invited to visit the Vatican Museums through an initiative of the   
   Office of Papal Charities. After shaking hands with those he met, he addressed   
   the group saying: ?Welcome. This is the house of all; this is your house. The   
   doors are always open to all.?   
   Later, he thanked Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, Papal Almoner, for having   
   organized the visit, which he called a ?small kindness? for the guests. The   
   Pope   
   added: ?Pray for me. I need the prayers of people like you. May the Lord   
   protect   
   you, accompany you on your life?s path, and make you feel the Father?s tender   
   love.? He then greeted each person present and chatted with them for about 20   
   minutes.   
   As we reported yesterday, afterthe visit, the guests were invited to dinner at   
   the Vatican Museums restaurant and they left Vatican City through the   
   Sant?Uffizio Gate.   
   At the Pope?s request, there was no official video or photo report of the   
   event.   
      
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    Respect for Refugee Children: Legal Identity, Education   
   Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Respect for children, victims of war, was   
   the subject of Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other   
   international organizations in Geneva Archbishop Archbishop Silvano M.   
   Tomasi?s,   
   speech given at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council held 17 March of   
   this year.   
   ?The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab   
   Republic,? the archbishop stated, ?recently reported that, since the start of   
   the crisis, ?more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes. This amounts   
   to   
   almost half of the country?s population, now deprived of their basic rights? ?   
   A   
   variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal   
   consequences of a persistent status of war in their country. Children are   
   recruited, trained, and used in active combat roles, at times even as human   
   shields inmilitary attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has   
   worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers;   
   killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities;   
   selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and   
   committing other atrocities.?   
   ?In camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of   
   the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in   
   times of conflict and displacement. ? Beyond the specific conditions faced by   
   internally displaced children and those in the refugee camps of the region and   
   beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them, it seems important to envision   
   their future, by focusing on three particular areas of concern.?   
   ?First,? he asserted, ?the world must deal with the situation of millions of   
   stateless children, who as such according to the law, were never born. The   
   United Nationsestimates that approximately 30,000 of these children can be   
   found   
   in Lebanon alone. Moreover, due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive   
   uprooting of families, several thousand unregistered children are scattered in   
   camps and other asylum countries. ? Stateless children cross international   
   borders alone and find themselves completely abandoned. ? While all face grave   
   difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges that are even more dramatic:   
   a   
   child below eleven years of age and without documents has no access even to the   
   most basic services. These children obviously cannot go to school and they are   
   likely to be adopted illegally, recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited,   
   or forced into prostitution. Every child has the right to be registered at   
   birth   
   and thus to be recognized as a person before the law. The implementation of   
   this   
   right opens the way for access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits   
   that affect the future of these children. Simplifying mechanisms and   
   requirements for registration, waving fees, and advocating for refugee   
   inclusive   
   registration legislation, represent steps to solve the plight of stateless   
   children.?   
   ?Second, another key component that shapes the future of uprooted children is   
   education. Both in Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of   
   education has become extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been   
   destroyed in Syria where more than one million and half students no longer   
   receive an education and where attacks against school buildings continue. ? The   
   international community as a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)