Mags GarganCampaigners have said Pope Francis’ call for equality for the Traveller community will be used to advocate for their rights “for many years to come”.
More than 300 Irish Travellers attended an audience with Pope Francis on Monday, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ever visit by a Pontiff to a gypsy camp made when Pope Paul VI travelled to Pomezia on the outskirts of Rome in 1965.
In his address to the thousands of pilgrims the Pope criticised indifference to other ways of life and an inability to accept different customs.
Appearing to refer to the tragic Carrickmines fire, he said: “We no longer want to attend family tragedies where children die of cold or in the flames, or become objects in the hands of depraved people, young people and women are involved in drug trafficking or human trafficking.”
Ronnie Fay, co-director of Pavee Point, who was on the pilgrimage, said the Pope’s comments were “very powerful”. “His sentiments were very much to be welcomed. He challenged the state and wider society in their treatment, lack of respect, discrimination and racism. But he also challenged the Roma and Travellers internally in terms of the need to educate and protect their children,” she told The Irish Catholic.
“All in all it was a very worthwhile visit and I think the words of Pope Francis will be used to advocate for Traveller rights in Ireland for many years to come.”
Three Irish children with special needs Alison Nevin (12), and Dan (7) and Bill Connors (9), third cousins of the Connors family who were killed in the fire at Carrickmines, had front seats in the Paul VI Hall so they could meet the Pope in person.
Dan’s mother Margaret O’Leary Connors said the Pope’s words were “uplifting”. “The way we feel at home, the situation with the housing, to know that the Holy Father is with us even when the government does not appear to be with us, that is why we are so religious, we can rely on our religion,” she said.