VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXV - # 62
DATE 27-03-2015

Summary:
- Pope Expresses Solidarity with Families in Iraq and Nigeria
- Pope to Receive President of Italy and to Visit Prato and Florence
- Pope Meets 150 Homeless who Visited Sistine Chapel Yesterday
- Respect for Refugee Children: Legal Identity, Education
- Freedoms of Religion and Expression: Adopting an Ethics of Responsibility

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 Pope Expresses Solidarity with Families in Iraq and Nigeria
Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Pope Francis has a constant concern for the
situation of Christian families and other groups of victims who have been
expelled from their homes and villages, particularly in the city of Mosul and
the Nineveh plains, many of whom have taken refuge in the autonomous region of
Iraqi Kurdistan. The Pope prays for them and hopes they can return and resume
their lives in the lands and places where they have lived and built good
relationships for hundreds of years.
In this coming Holy Week, these families are sharing together with Christ the
unjust violence of which they have been made victims, participating in the
suffering of Christ himself.
In a desire to be close to these families, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of
the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is returning to Iraq as a
sign of nearness, affection, andunity in prayer with them.
The families of the Diocese of Rome, united with their bishop in the feeling of
nearness and solidarity with these families, through a special collection in
the
parishes, are sending the traditional Easter cakes in the shape of a dove
(colomba cake) to share the joy of Easter and as a herald of good based on the
faith in the Resurrection of Christ.
The Holy Father, moreover, makes himself present in a concrete way with a
tangible sign of solidarity. Not wanting to forget the suffering of the
families
in northern Nigeria either, he has also sent a similar sign of solidarity
through the local Bishops? Conference.

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 Pope to Receive President of Italy and to Visit Prato and Florence
Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? On 18 April, Pope Francis will receive
President of Italy Sergio Mattarella for the first time in an official visit to
the Vatican. President Mattarella was elected 3 February of this year. The
visit
has been confirmed by the Holy See Press Office as well as the pastoral visits
that the Holy Father will make to the Italian cities of Prato and Florence on
10
November on the occasion of the 5th National Ecclesial Congress of the Italian
Episcopal Conference (CEI) that will be held from 9-13 November. The Congress?s
theme is ?A New Humanism through Jesus Christ?.

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 Pope Meets 150 Homeless who Visited Sistine Chapel Yesterday
Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Yesterday afternoon, shortly after 5:00pm,
Pope Francis went to the Sistine Chapel to greet the 150 homeless persons who
had been invited to visit the Vatican Museums through an initiative of the
Office of Papal Charities. After shaking hands with those he met, he addressed
the group saying: ?Welcome. This is the house of all; this is your house. The
doors are always open to all.?
Later, he thanked Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, Papal Almoner, for having
organized the visit, which he called a ?small kindness? for the guests. The
Pope
added: ?Pray for me. I need the prayers of people like you. May the Lord
protect
you, accompany you on your life?s path, and make you feel the Father?s tender
love.? He then greeted each person present and chatted with them for about 20
minutes.
As we reported yesterday, afterthe visit, the guests were invited to dinner at
the Vatican Museums restaurant and they left Vatican City through the
Sant?Uffizio Gate.
At the Pope?s request, there was no official video or photo report of the
event.

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 Respect for Refugee Children: Legal Identity, Education
Vatican City, 27 March 2015 (VIS) ? Respect for children, victims of war, was
the subject of Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other
international organizations in Geneva Archbishop Archbishop Silvano M.
Tomasi?s,
speech given at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council held 17 March of
this year.
?The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab
Republic,? the archbishop stated, ?recently reported that, since the start of
the crisis, ?more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes. This amounts
to
almost half of the country?s population, now deprived of their basic rights? ?
A
variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal
consequences of a persistent status of war in their country. Children are
recruited, trained, and used in active combat roles, at times even as human
shields inmilitary attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has
worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers;
killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities;
selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and
committing other atrocities.?
?In camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of
the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in
times of conflict and displacement. ? Beyond the specific conditions faced by
internally displaced children and those in the refugee camps of the region and
beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them, it seems important to envision
their future, by focusing on three particular areas of concern.?
?First,? he asserted, ?the world must deal with the situation of millions of
stateless children, who as such according to the law, were never born. The
United Nationsestimates that approximately 30,000 of these children can be
found
in Lebanon alone. Moreover, due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive
uprooting of families, several thousand unregistered children are scattered in
camps and other asylum countries. ? Stateless children cross international
borders alone and find themselves completely abandoned. ? While all face grave
difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges that are even more dramatic:
a
child below eleven years of age and without documents has no access even to the
most basic services. These children obviously cannot go to school and they are
likely to be adopted illegally, recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited,
or forced into prostitution. Every child has the right to be registered at
birth
and thus to be recognized as a person before the law. The implementation of
this
right opens the way for access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits
that affect the future of these children. Simplifying mechanisms and
requirements for registration, waving fees, and advocating for refugee
inclusive
registration legislation, represent steps to solve the plight of stateless
children.?
?Second, another key component that shapes the future of uprooted children is
education. Both in Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of
education has become extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been
destroyed in Syria where more than one million and half students no longer
receive an education and where attacks against school buildings continue. ? The
international community as a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the

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