Vatican to release new pastoral document on care for often persecuted Gypsies

Vatican City, Feb 22, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The Vatican has announced that the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples will present a new document dealing with the pastoral care of gypsies next Tuesday.

Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao and Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, respective president and secretary of the pontifical council will present the new document before a gathered assembly in the Holy See Press office.

On Tuesday, one of Europe’s top human rights groups said that Gypsies continue to face widespread persecution--particularly in some eastern European countries, like Lithuania and Romania. Reports also suggest that this population is one of the poorest and fastest growing minorities in Europe.

The group’s population there is estimated at between 7 and 9 million, some 6 million of whom live in Eastern Europe.