Pontiff calls human trafficking, "a scourge upon the body of Christ"

Pope Francis has revealed his thoughts on human trafficking.

During a recent visit to the Pope John XXIII Community safe house in Rome on August 12, 2016, he described the criminal act as "a crime against humanity."

A statement from the Holy See Press office called on people to fight human trafficking.

“Today’s visit by Pope Francis is another call to conscience to fight the trafficking of human beings, which the Holy Father has on several occasions defined as ‘a crime against humanity", and "an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ", it read.

ALSO READ: 10 pearls of wisdom from Pope Francis

The Pope’s visit to this refugee centre was part of his ‘Friday of Mercy’ gestures during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

There, he met 20 women, 6 from Romania, 4 from Albania, 7 from Nigeria and the remaining from Tunisia, Italy and Ukraine, all aged around 30.

Pope Francis spent over one hour with the former sex slaves, “all of whom suffered serious physical abuse and live under protection,” from their pimps.

This visit is the Pope’s eighth act of mercy, while the seventh took place on July 29, 2016 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, there, he said a prayer and visited sick children at the pediatric hospital of Krakow, Poland.

Others include a visit to two communities of priests – the “Monte Tabor” community, consisting of eight priests, suffering from various forms of hardship, and the Diocese of Rome’s “Casa San Gaetano” community, which houses 21 elderly priests.

The ‘Friday of Mercy’ initiative also includes a visit to a retirement home for the elderly, sick, those in a vegetative state in January, another visit to a center, for recovering drug addicts in Castel Gandolfo, and washing the feet of 12 refugees at the CARA welcoming center in Castelnuovo di Porto.

Refugees and migrants in the Greek island of Lesbos got a visit from the Pope in April, while the “Chicco” community for people with serious mental disabilities at Ciampino were also visited in May, 2016.