Pope Urges More Care for Street Women,Children; Views Them as "Shameful Reality in Our Societies"

Abandoned children and exploited sex workers are a "shameful reality in our societies." That was Pope Francis's message today (September 17, 2015) to participants at an international symposium on the pastoral care of street people that has been taking place in the Vatican this week, the Independent Catholic News website reports.

The five-day meeting -- organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People -- has focused especially on the plight of women and children living on the streets.

Pope Francis praised the commitment of the many different organizations that care for street children and for girls or women who are sexually exploited by criminal gangs, or even by their own family members.

He said, "Every child abandoned or forced to live on the streets, at the mercy of criminal organizations, is a cry rising up to God, who created man and woman in His own image. It is an indictment of a social system which we have criticized for decades, but which we find hard to change in conformity with criteria of justice."