Pope Francis Kisses Babies Among Crowds During Visit to Thailand

#PopeInThailand #PopeVisitThailand

On his way to St. Louis Hospital in Bangkok, Pope Francis kissed babies among cheering crowds during his papal visit to Thailand.

Pope Francis called Thursday for women and children to be protected from exploitation, abuse and enslavement as he began a busy two days of meetings in Thailand, where human trafficking and forced prostitution help fuel the sexual tourism industry.

Francis pleaded for action against one of the region’s greatest scourges at the start of his weeklong visit to Asia.

He praised the Thai government’s efforts to fight human trafficking in a speech delivered at host Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s Government House offices. But he appealed for greater international commitment to protect women and children “who are violated and exposed to every form of exploitation, enslavement, violence and abuse.”

The Thai government has insisted it has made significant progress in cracking down on human trafficking and has vowed continued cooperation with international bodies to improve.

Prime Minister Chan-ocha didn’t make any reference to the problem in his remarks to Francis, though he stressed that Thailand had made great strides in promoting human rights.

“We have sought to strengthen the family institution and ensure equal opportunities for all groups in society, especially women and children,” he told Francis after a brief private meeting.

Francis has made the fight against human trafficking one of the cornerstones of his papacy, calling it a crime against humanity. Under his express wishes, the Vatican has hosted several conferences on eradicating trafficking, featuring women freed from forced prostitution. And during his papacy, an international network of religious sisters, Talitha Kum, has gained greater prominence following decades of quiet efforts to rescue women from traffickers.

Francis had a busy schedule on his first full day of activities of his weeklong tour, which will also take him to Japan. Small crowds of Thais greeted him at each destination, and Francis dutifully followed the custom to remove his shoes when he entered the jeweled, intimate Wat Rachabophit temple.

During a meeting there with Thailand’s Supreme Patriarch of Buddhism, Francis committed the Catholic Church to working more with Thailand’s majority Buddhists to launch projects to care for the poor and the environment, “our much-abused common home.”

There are fewer than 400,000 Catholics among Thailand’s 65 million people, yet Francis said they nevertheless have enjoyed freedom in their religious practice.

Francis praised Thais for their values and traditions, speaking with his second cousin by his side — an Argentine nun who has worked in Thailand since the 1960s and is serving as his interpreter for the trip.

Francis’s visit was the second time a pope has called on the spiritual leader of Thailand’s Buddhists, after St. John Paul II in 1984.

His visit to Wat Ratchabophit was followed by a visit to a Catholic hospital. He wraps up the day with a private audience with Thailand’s recently crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and a public Mass at Bangkok’s National Stadium.

Friday’s agenda is far more church-based, with meetings with local Thai clergy, Asian bishops and separately a meeting with leaders of different Christian denominations and other faiths.

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