Monday, October 26, 2015

Pope holds out Indian bishop as example of vocations among Gypsies

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday noted there was a strong growth in vocations to the priesthood and ‎religious ‎life from among the gypsy people, holding out an Indian bishop from among them as case in ‎point.  ‎‎“Today we have with us Bishop Devprasad Ganawa, a son of this people,” Pope Francis said, ‎pointing ‎to the first bishop from among the gypsies appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to Jhabua, ‎Madhya ‎Pradesh, in 2009 and then to Udaipur, Rajasthan, in 2012. The remark of Pope Francis ‎came in his meeting with some 7000 gypsies from around the world who on Monday ended a ‎‎4-day ‎pilgrimage to Rome, to commemorate 50 years of the historic visit of Blessed Pope Paul ‎VI to a ‎gypsy ‎camp in Pomezia, near Rome.  ‎

‎“Dear consecrated people, your brothers and sisters look up to you with trust and hope for your ‎role ‎and all you are able to do for reconciliation within society and the Church,” the Pope told the ‎religious ‎and priests from among the nomadic people.  He urged them to accompany their ‎people not only in ‎their spiritual journey but also in their daily life with all their struggles, joys and ‎preoccupations. ‎

Noting that the nomadic people are subject to discrimination, Pope Francis said, ‎“No one must feel isolated and no one is entitled to trample on the dignity and the rights of ‎others.” adding, “Time has come to uproot secular prejudice, preconceived ideas and ‎the ‎reciprocal diffidence that are often at the base of discrimination, racism and xenophobia,”  ‎the Pope stressed.

The Pope's meeting with Gypsies wore a carnival look with music and dance. At the end, the Pope crowned a statue of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. 

(from Vatican Radio)

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