Pope Francis meets with UNICEF Chief Catherine Russell
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis met with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on Sunday.
UNICEF is the United Nations Children's Fund and works in more than 190 countries and territories to save and protect the rights of the world's most needy children and young people.
The same day, according to a statement from UNICEF, Russell ended her three-day visit to Rome, which included her participating in the Vatican's first-ever World Children's Day, organized by the Holy See's Dicastery for Culture and Education, which gathered tens of thousands of children from around the world.
Over the weekend, Russell had joined Pope Francis and tens of thousands of children from all over the world - including from war-torn countries - along with parents, local celebrities and hundreds of UNICEF volunteers at Rome’s Olympic Stadium. During the event, the Executive Director urged children in the stadium and those watching from around the world, to help create a more peaceful, equitable, and livable world.
Accompanied by ten children and Fr. Enzo Fortunato, she met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday and gifted him two paintings by children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the conflict-torn country both Russell and the Pope have visited in recent years, where children continue to suffer tremendously.
Children suffer most
Reflecting on their encounter, Russell recalled Pope Francis' constant warnings against "a globalization of indifference," as she urged everyone "to turn indifference or disregard for the rights and well-being of children into a globalization of peace, kindness, and caring for every child, everywhere.”
Stressing that in all conflicts and disasters, children suffer first and "most," she said we must listen to their voices.
"We cannot," she insisted, "be complacent when children are being killed, harmed, and deprived of their futures.”
Some 400 million children, about one child in every five, are living in or fleeing from conflict zones, in places like Gaza, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen.
Meanwhile, more than 1 billion children currently live in countries that are at ‘extremely high risk’ from the impacts of climate change.
Russell's visit to protect vulnerable children
On the first day of her visit, UNICEF's Executive Director met with the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, to discuss ways to better protect vulnerable children around the world, including those living in humanitarian emergencies, as well as migrant and refugee children.
Russell’s visit coincided with the commemoration of 50 years of advocacy and fundraising efforts by UNICEF’s National Committee in Italy this year. During the visit, Russell thanked the government and the people of Italy for their longstanding support for UNICEF’s work on behalf of children around the world.
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