Pope thanks Roma, Sinti, Travelers for witness of faith amid hardships

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Often literally pushed to the margins of cities and even parish life, Catholic members of the Roma, Sinti and Traveling communities are models of steadfast faith in the face of adversity, Pope Leo XIV said.

Joining thousands of Roma, Sinti and Travelers in the Vatican audience hall Oct. 18 as part of their Jubilee celebration, Pope Leo thanked them for "your strong faith, your unshakeable hope in God alone (and) your solid trust that does not yield to the hardships of a life often lived on the margins of society."

The meeting with the pope was preceded by song, dance and accounts of the faith of the Roma, Sinti and Travelers despite oppression and persecution, particularly the Nazi's Holocaust of an estimated 250,000-500,000 members of their communities.

During the audience, Pope Leo crowned a statue of Our Lady, Queen of the Roma, Sinti and Travelers, and of the Child Jesus she was holding.

"So-called 'advanced' societies have consistently rejected you," the pope said, "always placing you on the margins: on the margins of cities, on the margins of rights, on the margins of education and culture."

"The model of society that marginalized you and made you itinerant, without peace and without welcome –- first in seasonal caravans and then in camps on the outskirts of cities, where you sometimes still live without electricity and water -– is the one that has created the greatest social injustices globally in the last century: enormous economic inequalities between individuals and peoples, unprecedented financial crises, environmental disasters, wars," he said.

But the Roma, Sinti and Traveling communities, the pope said, have a gift to offer the rest of the church by being "living witnesses to the centrality of these three things: trusting only in God, not attaching yourselves to any worldly goods, and showing exemplary faith in works and words."

As members of the community know, he said, "living this way is not easy. It is learned by accepting God's blessing and allowing it to work to change our hearts."

Pope Leo encouraged the communities to reach out and work with others to improve their lives and the lives of people in the places they live, "overcoming mutual distrust, making known the beauty of your culture, sharing your faith, your prayers and the bread that is the fruit of honest labor."

The pope also insisted the church should do more to promote education and vocational training for the communities' young people, pastoral care for the family and the community, the inculturation of liturgy and catechesis and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue in the world of the Roma, Sinti and Travelers.