A ‘Friday of Mercy’: Pope pays surprise visit to ex-prostitutes in Vatican City

Pope Francis met with 20 women from six countries who have been freed from prostitution as part of his Holy Year of Mercy activities focusing on communities that have experienced suffering.

Pope Francis on Friday surprised 20 former prostitutes by knocking on their door in Rome and popping in for a chat.

Pope Francis is given a rosary during his visit to the Papa Giovanni XXIII community in Rome on Friday. Francis met with 20 women from six countries who have been freed from prostitution as part of his Holy Year of Mercy activities focusing on communities that have experienced suffering. (AP)

The Argentine, who has repeatedly described the human trafficking behind much prostitution as “a crime against humanity”, sat down with the group, including four women from Albania, seven from Nigeria and six from Romania.

The other three hailed from Italy, Tunisia and the Ukraine, according to a Vatican statement. The women, all aged around 30, are being sheltered by a Catholic association in an apartment in the Italian capital after being rescued from their pimps.

The 79-year old listened for over an hour to the stories of the former sex slaves, “all of whom suffered serious physical abuse and live under protection,” the Vatican said.

The visit fell under what have been termed Francis’s “Fridays of Mercy”, whereby he carries out one unscheduled act of mercy a month on a Friday, mainly in or near Rome, throughout the pope’s Jubilee year, which started in December and runs to November.

In January, he visited a care home for the elderly and people in a vegetative state, while in February he went to a community for drug addicts. In March he toured a refugee centre before visiting asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos in April.