Vatican Media Watch
Human Trafficking Worse Than African Slave Trade
ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 14 —
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“This trafficking in human beings has intensified, persons put into slavery because they depend on certain criminals who take possession of these human beings,” said Cardinal Renato Martino, former longtime Vatican envoy to the United Nations and current head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
“It’s worse than the slavery of those ... taken from Africa and brought to other countries,” Cardinal Martino told a news conference to present Pope Benedict XVI’s annual message dealing with the problems of migrants.
The cardinal challenged countries to combat modern-day forms of slavery — minors who are sold to do child labor or who are forced to be soldiers, as well as women forced to prostitute themselves. He said, “In a world that proclaims human rights left and right, let’s see what it does about the rights of so many human beings which are not respected, but trampled.”
Pope Urges Talks to Make
YONHAP NEWS, Nov. 13 — In his first public comment on the issue of security on the Korean peninsula, Pope Benedict said the North Korean nuclear dispute should be resolved through negotiations, the Korean news service reported.
“The Holy See encourages bilateral
or multilateral negotiations, convinced that the solution must be sought
through peaceful means and in respect for agreements taken by all sides to
obtain the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” the Holy Father said in a
speech to the new Japanese ambassador to the
“More than ever, the search for
peace among nations must be a priority in international relations,” the Pope
said. “The crises which the world knows cannot find definitive solutions
through violence — on the contrary, they are resolved through peaceful means in
respect for agreements.”
Pope Benedict also said he “strongly urges the international community to
pursue and intensify its humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable populations,
notably in
Late last month,
Muslim Praises Pope’s ‘Thirst’ to Understand Islam
REUTERS, Nov. 14 — A Muslim philosopher said Pope Benedict has a real thirst for understanding Islam and conducting a sincere dialogue with its followers, Reuters reported.
Mustapha Cherif,
a former higher education minister and ambassador of his native
“He is a great theologian but not an expert in Islam,” Cherif, the first Muslim intellectual received by Benedict since his election in April 2005, said. “What touched me was his thirst to understand. He is a man of dialogue.”
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- November 26-December 2, 2006