The head of the Roman Catholic Church addressed the evils of prostitution in the preface of a new book titled, "Women Crucified: The Shame of Human Trafficking As Told From the Street." In his writing, the pontiff slammed sex work and sex trafficking as "a wound to the collective consciousness."
“Any form of prostitution is a reduction into slavery, a criminal act, a disgusting vice that confuses love-making with venting one's instincts by torturing a defenseless woman," Pope Francis wrote.
"Individuals and institutions cannot remain indifferent before their cry of pain," he said regarding the horrors associated with prostitution. "No one should turn away or wash their hands of the innocent blood that is shed on the roads of the world."
According to the Vatican News, "The Pope also expresses his awareness of the dangers this work involves, including possible retaliation by crime syndicates for which these women represent 'an inexhaustible source of illegal and shameful profit.'"
"A person can never be offered for sale," the Pope wrote in his preface.
Likewise, Pope Francis added that he hopes that the new book by Fr. Aldo Buonaiuto, a priest of the Pope John XXIII Community, "will be widely read."
The pope said that if the Church truly wants to “combat the exploitation and humiliation of human lives effectively” then we need to tell “the stories behind the shocking numbers” of people trafficked, according to the Vatican News.
Sex trafficking is an industry in which "600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children," according to DoSomething.Org.