Homeless children chained/starved to be kept out of Pope Francis's sight

[KingsGambit]

...in the Philippines, possibly the most Christian nation in Asia. What a shame.

http://www.catholic.org/news/interna...y.php?id=58402

[rogue06]

...in the Philippines, possibly the most Christian nation in Asia. What a shame.

http://www.catholic.org/news/interna...y.php?id=58402

Saw something earlier today on that from a link on Drudge

Source: Children CAGED to keep the streets clean for the Pope: Police round up orphans and chain them in filth during pontiff's visit to Philippines

Street children as young as five are being caged in brutal detention centres alongside adult criminals in a cynical drive to smarten up the Philippines capital ahead of a visit by Pope Francis this week.

Hundreds of boys and girls have been rounded up from doorways and roadsides by police and officials and put behind bars in recent weeks to make the poverty-racked city more presentable when Pope Francis arrives tomorrow, a MailOnline investigation has found.

In a blatant abuse of the country's own child protection laws, the terrified children are locked up in filthy detention centres where they sleep on concrete floors and where many of them are beaten or abused by older inmates and adult prisoners and, in some cases, starved and chained to pillars.

Six million people are expected to attend an open air mass conducted by Pope Francis in Manila's Rizal Park on Sunday, which will watched by a global TV audience and officials appear determined to ensure that urchins are hidden from view.

MailOnline found dozens of street children locked up in appalling conditions alongside adult criminals in Manila, where a senior official admitted there had been an intensive round-up by police and government workers to make sure they are not seen by Pope Francis.

We gained rare access to a detention centre by accompanying Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Irish missionary Father Shay Cullen, 71, as he freed a boy aged around seven and took him to his Preda Foundation shelter for children 100 miles away in Subic Bay.

Mak-Mak, whose legs and body were riddled with scabies, was picked up three weeks ago and spent Christmas and the New Year in a concrete pen at the centre hidden away in the slums of Manila's Paranaque district which –with grotesque irony – is named House of Hope.

There, guiltless children are kept behind bars, made to go to the toilet in buckets and fed leftovers which they eat from the floor. There is no schooling or entertainment for the youngsters who are held sometimes for months before being freed.

Adult convicts are kept in a pen next to separate compounds holding boys and girls and freely pass between the pens at certain times of the day, inmates and regular visitors to the centre told us, while officials either ignore or fail to spot abuse and attacks.

In poignant scenes, Mak-Mak – an abandoned child with no ID – at first seen frightened but then beamed with delight as charity workers told him he was being taken from his caged pen to children's home in the countryside. 'Are there toys there?' was his first question.


Source

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[Manwë Súlimo]

Any news if the Vicar of Christ is adding the detention centers on his itinerary?

[lilpixieofterror]

Sad thing is, this happens quite a bit when somebody famous and/or an event is happening in town. I do hope the Pope seriously presses them on this issue. It would be fitting.

[Christianbookworm]

That's awful. An USA animal shelter would have better living conditions! You wouldn't wan't even animals having those conditions, much less children.

[rogue06]

Sad thing is, this happens quite a bit when somebody famous and/or an event is happening in town. I do hope the Pope seriously presses them on this issue. It would be fitting.

Now that it has been exposed this many indeed backfire big time on the Philippine authorities. Matthew 19:14 seems appropriate here.

[lilpixieofterror]

Now that it has been exposed this many indeed backfire big time on the Philippine authorities. Matthew 19:14 seems appropriate here.

Yep and hopefully this causes a massive backfire when this happens in other cities. Attempting to 'clean up the streets' by getting rid of those 'terrible' homeless people, right before a major visit and/or event happens more than it should. Maybe this will help stop that process from happening.

[Christianbookworm]

I was thinking the sheep and goats parable also. You know, how you treat the least of these and all...

[Truthseeker]

Let's keep things straight. The people making up virtually any government around the world should be expected to be less Christian than the "outsiders." Sure some politicians may make a show of being Christian, but it's to con the outsiders. An example--rather, two examples are the former presidents Bush.

[KingsGambit]

Let's keep things straight. The people making up virtually any government around the world should be expected to be less Christian than the "outsiders." Sure some politicians may make a show of being Christian, but it's to con the outsiders. An example--rather, two examples are the former presidents Bush.

I'm no supporter of GW Bush, but I don't see any reason to doubt the sincerity of his faith

[KingsGambit]

Yep and hopefully this causes a massive backfire when this happens in other cities. Attempting to 'clean up the streets' by getting rid of those 'terrible' homeless people, right before a major visit and/or event happens more than it should. Maybe this will help stop that process from happening.

It's common with the Olympics.

[Manwë Súlimo]

I've seen this at a much lower and domestic scale where I work. When district leaders come to my store, suddenly everything is working as intended (at least on the surface...the weaknesses are still there but swept under the rug until they leave).

[Juvenal]

This is outrageous if it's true, but I can't find anyone reliable reporting on it.

[Epoetker]

This is outrageous if it's true, but I can't find anyone reliable reporting on it.

Are you so shocked that Third World people mimic the trappings of a successful nation while not actually taking care of their people, especially when reputation and foreign money is involved? Would you be shocked when First World people elect an Affirmative Action President? Such is the way of the world, and will continue to be the way of the world until people repent.

[rogue06]

I've seen this at a much lower and domestic scale where I work. When district leaders come to my store, suddenly everything is working as intended (at least on the surface...the weaknesses are still there but swept under the rug until they leave).

It often happens during political conventions and the like. Homeless people get rounded up and put out of sight, a crackdown on prostitutes... Gotta make everything nice for the cameras.