In the Book of Genesis, we read that God made man male and female, and
blessed them so that they could increase and multiply. He made Adam and Eve
parents who, in response to God's command to be fruitful and multiply, brought
about the first fraternity, that of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were brothers
because they came forth from the same womb. Consequently they had the same
origin, nature and dignity as their parents, who were created in the image and
likeness of God.
 But fraternity also embraces variety and differences between brothers and
sisters, even though they are linked by birth and are of the same nature and
dignity. As brothers and sisters, therefore, all people are in relation with
others, from whom they differ, but with whom they share the same origin,
nature and dignity. In this way, fraternity constitutes the network of
relations essential for the building of the human family created by God.
 Tragically, between the first creation recounted in the Book of Genesis and
the new birth in Christ whereby believers become brothers and sisters of the
'first-born among many brethren', there is the negative reality of sin, which
often disrupts human fraternity and constantly disfigures the beauty and
nobility of our being brothers and sisters in the one human family. It was not
only that Cain could not stand Abel; he killed him out of envy and, in so
doing, committed the first fratricide. 'Cain's murder of Abel bears tragic
witness to his radical rejection of their vocation to be brothers. Their story
brings out the difficult task to which all men and women are called, to live
as one, each taking care of the other'.
 This was also the case with Noah and his children. Ham's disrespect for his
father Noah drove Noah to curse his insolent son and to bless the others,
those who honoured him. This created an inequality between brothers born of
the same womb.
 In the account of the origins of the human family, the sin of estrangement
from God, from the father figure and from the brother, becomes an expression
of the refusal of communion. It gives rise to a culture of enslavement, with
all its consequences extending from generation to generation: rejection of
others, their mistreatment, violations of their dignity and fundamental
rights, and institutionalised inequality. Hence, the need for constant
conversion to the Covenant, fulfilled by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, in the
confidence that 'where sin increased, grace abounded all the more... through
Jesus Christ'. Christ, the beloved Son, came to reveal the Father's love for
humanity. Whoever hears the Gospel and responds to the call to conversion
becomes Jesus' 'brother, sister and mother', and thus an adopted son of his
Father.
 One does not become a Christian, a child of the Father and a brother or
sister in Christ, as the result of an authoritative divine decree, without the
exercise of personal freedom: in a word, without being freely converted to
Christ. Becoming a child of God is necessarily linked to conversion: 'Repent,
and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'.
All those who responded in faith and with their lives to Peter's preaching
entered into the fraternity of the first Christian community: Jews and Greeks,
slaves and free. Differing origins and social status did not diminish anyone's
dignity or exclude anyone from belonging to the People of God. The Christian
community is thus a place of communion lived in the love shared among brothers
and sisters.
 All of this shows how the Good News of Jesus Christ, in whom God makes 'all
things new', is also capable of redeeming human relationships, including those
between slaves and masters, by shedding light on what both have in common:
adoptive sonship and the bond of brotherhood in Christ. Jesus himself said to
his disciples: 'No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I
have heard from my Father I have made known to you'.
 The many faces of slavery yesterday and today
 From time immemorial, different societies have known the phenomenon of man's
subjugation by man. There have been periods of human history in which the
institution of slavery was generally accepted and regulated by law. This
legislation dictated who was born free and who was born into slavery, as well
as the conditions whereby a freeborn person could lose his or her freedom or
regain it. In other words, the law itself admitted that some people were able
or required to be considered the property of other people, at their free
disposition. A slave could be bought and sold, given away or acquired, as if
he or she were a commercial product.
 Today, as the result of a growth in our awareness, slavery, seen as a crime
against humanity, has been formally abolished throughout the world. The right
of each person not to be kept in a state of slavery or servitude has been
recognised in international law as inviolable.
 Yet, even though the international community has adopted numerous agreements
aimed at ending slavery in all its forms, and has launched various strategies
to combat this phenomenon, millions of people today - children, women and men
of all ages - are deprived of freedom and are forced to live in conditions
akin to slavery.
 I think of the many men and women labourers, including minors, subjugated in
different sectors, whether formally or informally, in domestic or agricultural
workplaces, or in the manufacturing or mining industry; whether in countries
where labour regulations fail to comply with international norms and minimum
standards, or, equally illegally, in countries which lack legal protection for
workers' rights.
 I think also of the living conditions of many migrants who, in their dramatic
odyssey, experience hunger, are deprived of freedom, robbed of their
possessions, or undergo physical and sexual abuse. In a particular way, I
think of those among them who, upon arriving at their destination after a
gruelling journey marked by fear and insecurity, are detained in at times
inhumane conditions. I think of those among them, who for different social,
political and economic reasons, are forced to live clandestinely. My thoughts
also turn to those who, in order to remain within the law, agree to
disgraceful living and working conditions, especially in those cases where the
laws of a nation create or permit a structural dependency of migrant workers
on their employers, as, for example, when the legality of their residency is
made dependent on their labour contract. Yes, I am thinking of 'slave labour'.
 I think also of persons forced into prostitution, many of whom are minors, as
well as male and female sex slaves. I think of women forced into marriage,
those sold for arranged marriages and those bequeathed to relatives of their
deceased husbands, without any right to give or withhold their consent.
 Nor can I fail to think of all those persons, minors and adults alike, who
are made objects of trafficking for the sale of organs, for recruitment as
soldiers, for begging, for illegal activities such as the production and sale
of narcotics, or for disguised forms of cross-border adoption.
 Finally, I think of all those kidnapped and held captive by terrorist groups,
subjected to their purposes as combatants, or, above all in the case of young
girls and women, to be used as sex slaves. Many of these disappear, while
others are sold several times over, tortured, mutilated or killed.
 Some deeper causes of slavery
 4. Today, as in the past, slavery is rooted in a notion of the human person
which allows him or her to be treated as an object. Whenever sin corrupts the
human heart and distances us from our Creator and our neighbours, the latter
are no longer regarded as beings of equal dignity, as brothers or sisters
sharing a common humanity, but rather as objects. Whether by coercion or
deception, or by physical or psychological duress, human persons created in
the image and likeness of God are deprived of their freedom, sold and reduced
to being the property of others. They are treated as means to an end.
 Alongside this deeper cause - the rejection of another person's humanity -
there are other causes which help to explain contemporary forms of slavery.
Among these, I think in the first place of poverty, underdevelopment and
exclusion, especially when combined with a lack of access to education or
scarce, even non-existent, employment opportunities. Not infrequently, the
victims of human trafficking and slavery are people who look for a way out of
a situation of extreme poverty; taken in by false promises of employment, they
often end up in the hands of criminal networks which organise human
trafficking. These networks are skilled in using modern means of communication
as a way of luring young men and women in various parts of the world.
 Another cause of slavery is corruption on the part of people willing to do
anything for financial gain. Slave labour and human trafficking often require
the complicity of intermediaries, be they law enforcement personnel, state
officials, or civil and military institutions. 'This occurs when money, and
not the human person, is at the centre of an economic system. Yes, the person,
made in the image of God and charged with dominion over all creation, must be
at the centre of every social or economic system. When the person is replaced
by mammon, a subversion of values occurs'.
 Further causes of slavery include armed conflicts, violence, criminal
activity and terrorism. Many people are kidnapped in order to be sold,
enlisted as combatants, or sexually exploited, while others are forced to
emigrate, leaving everything behind: their country, home, property, and even
members of their family. They are driven to seek an alternative to these
terrible conditions even at the risk of their personal dignity and their very
lives; they risk being drawn into that vicious circle which makes them prey to
misery, corruption and their baneful consequences.
 A shared commitment to ending slavery
 5. Often, when considering the reality of human trafficking, illegal
trafficking of migrants and other acknowledged or unacknowledged forms of
slavery, one has the impression that they occur within a context of general
indifference.
 Sadly, this is largely true. Yet I would like to mention the enormous and
often silent efforts which have been made for many years by religious
congregations, especially women's congregations, to provide support to
victims. These institutes work in very difficult situations, dominated at
times by violence, as they work to break the invisible chains binding victims
to traffickers and exploiters. Those chains are made up of a series of links,
each composed of clever psychological ploys which make the victims dependent
on their exploiters. This is accomplished by blackmail and threats made
against them and their loved ones, but also by concrete acts such as the
confiscation of their identity documents and physical violence. The activity
of religious congregations is carried out in three main areas: in offering
assistance to victims, in working for their psychological and educational
rehabilitation, and in efforts to reintegrate them into the society where they
live or from which they have come.

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 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)