He thinks he’s a bit of a celebrity now.
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The pro-Roma group Associazione 21 Luglio said it hoped the audience with the pope would “be the necessary stimulus to get Rome’s authorities to stop once and for all with their policy of exclusion and discrimination against Roma”.
Thomas, 27, and Sylvia Connors, 25, and their three children, Jim, five, Christy, two, and five-month-old baby Mary died in the blaze. I greet you and I wish all good things for you.
During the audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall, musicians played traditional songs that also reflected the various influences of the native cultures of the lands they live in like, Spain, Ireland and Eastern Europe.
The Irish Independent reports Alison Nevin, from Swords, was the first of the crowd to be blessed by the Pope Francis after he descended from the pulpit.
Thousands of Gypsies and other Travelling Peoples came to Rome yesterday to see Pope Francis.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Blessed Paul VI’s visit to the nomadic camp of Pomezia, Italy, on 26 September 1965.
Ms O’Leary Connors works with the Southside Travellers Action Group and her mother was part of the extended Connors family left devastated by the fire in the halting site in Glenamuck over two weeks ago.
And noting that it is the responsibility of adults to make sure their children obtain an education that will enable them to become citizens who can fully participate in the social, political and economic life of the country, Pope Francis also asked civil institutions to guarantee adequate formation courses for young Gypsies, giving those families most in need the possibility of being integrated in educational and labour programmes.
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She said: “And we hope the Irish Government listens to the Pope’s words. And it’s an important message that racism… and discrimination has to end”. “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”.
