Vatican official assails sex industry at World Cup Soccer in Germany

(09 June 06) : As the World Cup Soccer competition kicked off in Germany on Friday evening, where 3 million fans will witness 64 games played by world’s top 32 teams in the next 31 days, Vatican Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, denounced the alarming prostitution industry being carried out in the background. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warns that 30,000 to 60,000 women and girls will fall victim to forced prostitution and abuse during the World Cup. Speaking to Vatican Radio on Thursday, Archbishop Marchetto said, in soccer terms that “several red cards should be taken out against this industry, its clients and the public authorities that host the event.” "Prostitution, in fact, violates the dignity of the human person, making the latter an object and instrument of sexual pleasure," he lamented. "Women become merchandise that can be purchased, whose cost is even lower than a ticket to a soccer match. Some of these women are obliged to exercise this 'profession' against their will, for this reason they are the object of trafficking," the archbishop added. Many organizations, including Amnesty International, religious congregations, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, have denounced this practice, and Archbishop Marchetto stressed the responsibility of the "German authorities".