translated from Spanish: Pope apologized to the gypsy people for the historical abuse against them

Pope Francis spoke about “discrimination, segregation and abuse” suffered by the gypsy people, and that includes the Christian world, for centuries in Europe and the world, which is why he apologized during his pastoral trip to Romania. The statements were given particularly when visiting the city Transylvanian of Blaj (center) and the periphery of the city met with people belonging to the Gypsy people, which represents at least 3 percent of the Romanian society and often lives stigmatized and marginalized. On the occasion he pointed out that “I carry a weight in my heart. It is the burden of discrimination, segregation and mistreatment of your communities. History tells us that Christians, also Catholics, are not strangers to so much evil. ” And he added that “I’d like to apologize for this. I ask forgiveness in the name of the church to the Lord and to you for all that throughout history we have discriminated against you, mistreated or wrongly looked at, with the gaze of Cain and not that of Abel. ” He also confessed that “we were not able to recognize, value and defend you in your uniqueness” and that “Cain does not care about his brother. The indifference is the one that feeds the prejudices and foments the grudges how many times we judge in a reckless way, with words that hurt, with attitudes that sow hatred and create distances! ” And he finished by assuring that “when someone is postponed the human family does not walk, we are not at the bottom of Christians, not even humans, if we do not know the person before their actions, before our judgments and prejudices.”

Original source in Spanish