New Year’s Day is the World Day of Peace in the Catholic Church. Every year the Pope chooses a theme of peace and justice to commemorate the day. This time around it is human trafficking. It is said that today more people are enslaved than at any other time in the history of the world. An estimated 26 to 28 million people are now in bondage to traffickers in sex and labor, over half of whom are women and children. The injustice is close to Francis’ heart and one that he has spoken out on numerous times since becoming pope. It has also been the subject of high level inter-religious conferences.
By Daniel Philpott