Pope to gypsies of Europe: "The Church walks with you!"

Pope Benedict XVI received groups of European gypsies in audience at the Vatican this Saturday.
The delegation included members of communities from 20 European countries, who are on pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of their patron: the gypsy martyr of Spanish origin, Blessed Ceferino Gimenez, who lived from 1861 to 1936 and was beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 1997.

This year, therefore, marks also the 75th anniversary of Bl. Gimenez’s martyrdom.

The various communities: the Roma, the Sinti, the Manouches, Kalé, Zingari, Yenish, Romanichals and Travellers, have encountered varying degrees and kinds of treatment through the centuries, ranging from tolerance to persecution.

During the course of the Saturday audience with Pope Benedict, several people shared their experiences of the 20^th century, during which the persecution of gypsies became systematic and ruthless.

Born in Austria in the first half of the last century, Cejia Stojka was 9 years old when, along with her relatives, she was deported, first to Auschwitz, then to Ravensbrück, and then to Bergen-Belsen. She told Pope Benedict how her family counted more than 200 members, only six of whom survived the war and the extermination. She told the Holy Father of how through the years and decades since the closure of the camps, she can still hear the shouts of the SS, still see guards with their dogs that mauled the prisoners, still smell the burning of human flesh. “I am afraid,” she said, “that Auschwitz is but sleeping.”

In his own remarks on Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI said, “The conscience of Europe cannot forget so much pain!” adding, “Never again must your people be the object of vexations, rejections and disdain!”

He went on to say, “On your part, always seek justice, a law-abiding life, reconciliation,” and calling on his guests to make every effort to avoid being, “a cause of another’s suffering.”

"The Church walks with you," said POpe Benedict, "and She challenges you to live according to the high and demanding requirenments of the Gospel, confiding in Christ's strength, toward a better future."

The Church’s solicitude for gypsy communities has been expressed on numerous occasions during the last half-century: in 1965 and again in 1975 Pope Paul VI held audiences with their representatives; Blessed John Paul II met with several delegations when he presided over Bl. Gimenez’s beatification – and included the sins committed against the gypsies throughout history in his March 12^th, 2000 Day of Pardon prayer for forgiveness and reconciliation.

In 2005, the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People published universal guidelines for the pastoral care of gypsy communities, in which the Council calls on Christian communities everywhere to be welcoming and to assist gypsies in managing the tension between protecting their cultural identity and achieving full integration in society, especially through the education of the youngest generations and professional formation for those already grown.

Listen to Chris Altieri's report: