Children's Train comes to see Pope Francis
Pope Francis received more than 400 children on Saturday had traveled to Rome from Calabria in southern Italy aboard the 'Children's Train' - the Treno dei Bambini - an annual initiative of the Pontifical Council for Culture. This year the theme of the visit was 'Carried by Waves' - and many of the children were migrants or migrants - who had survived perilous journeys to reach safety and the hope of a better life in Europe.
The children arrived at St Peter's railway station in the Vatican, supported by the John XXIII Association, and the Quattrocanti Children's Orchestra of Palermo (in which boys and girls of eight different ethnicities are involved). Mary Salvia, principal of a school in Vibo Marina, brought to Pope Francis money from her school's collection for the children of Lesbos and a letter signed by her pupils, which Cardinal Ravasi read to the Pope. "We children promise that we will welcome anyone who arrives in our country: we shall never consider anyone who has a different skin color, or who speaks a different language, or who professes a different religion from ours, a dangerous enemy."
In an unscripted exchange with the young travelers, Pope Francis focused on the human cost of indifference to the plight of migrants, recounting the story and sharing the words of a rescue worker who brought the Holy Father the life jacket of a young migrant who drowned at sea.
"He brought me this jacket," said Pope Francis, "and with tears in his eyes he said to me, 'Father, I couldn't do it - there was a little girl on the waves, and I did all I could, but I couldn't save her: only her life vest was left.'" Then, indicating the Jacket, the Holy Father said: "I do not tell you this because I want you to be sad, but because you are brave and you should know the truth. They are in danger - many boys and girls, small children, men, women - they are in danger.. Let us think of this little girl: what was her name? I do not know: a little girl with no name. Each of you give her the name you would like, each in his heart. She is in heaven, she is looking on us."
One of the children asked Pope Frances, what it means "to be Pope": The Holy Father replied: "to do the good that I can do." He went on to say: "I feel that Jesus called me to this: Jesus wanted me to be a Christian, and a Christian must do the good he can. And Jesus also wanted me to be a priest, and a bishop - and a priest and a bishop must do the good they can; I feel that Jesus is calling me to do this - that's what I feel," he said.
Source: Vatican Radio/Children's Train
Read more about the Children's Train here: www.cortiledeigentili.com/il_cortile/il-cortile-dei-bambini/