An audience with Pope Francis

Sadie Scullion from our international team was granted an audience with Pope Francis as she attended a conference about human trafficking.

Programme Officer Sadie was among around 200 experts who gathered in Rome to discuss the best ways to implement new guidelines from the Vatican on how to improve the Church’s work in addressing human trafficking.

After the meeting Sadie said:

It was just so awe-inspiring, and you just get a sense of a great amount of love, genuine compassion and also the appreciation that he felt for the work that had been done. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Sadie works on our projects with Caritas India to prevent women and child trafficking in towns and cities along India’s border with Nepal. As part of these we’re helping families to earn a living, making them less vulnerable to exploitation.

Pope Francis has been vocal about the issue of human trafficking, stating that the practice is an “open wound on the body of contemporary society”.

The pontiff praised the work of religious congregations, stating efforts to protect survivors and prosecute offenders were “worthy of admiration”.

Sadie said:

Having the Pope’s gaze on human trafficking gives a lot of hope to people. It gives hope to people who have been trafficked and to people working in the area. It will move things on and drive things forward.