English archbishop: Catholics must fight trafficking, the new slavery

Published: 2007-01-23

LONDON (CNS) -- An English archbishop has called upon Catholics to fight modern-day slavery with the same zeal as the early abolitionists. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, papal nuncio to Egypt and the Arab League, said Christians had always been "at the fore" in the battle against slavery, but new forms of human trafficking demanded a new effort to protect people from exploitation and to pursue those who sought to profit from it. "Christians have a special reason for fighting against slavery in all its forms, for it is a fundamental offense against human dignity," the archbishop said. "This dignity has its roots in the nature of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God," he added. "From this perspective all human beings are equal, and none can be made the chattel of another." The archbishop's remarks came during the Jan. 17 Wilberforce Lecture he delivered in Hull, England, to mark the 200th anniversary of the British abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the first step in abolishing the practice of slavery in Europe and the Americas.

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