Thaindian News

Nevada (US), Oct 10 (ANI): Hindus are disappointed at Pope Benedict’s meeting with France President Nicolas Sarkozy at Vatican on October eight, saying that Pope reportedly did not bring up the issue of maltreatment of Roma (Gypsy) communities in France.

According to Catholic News Service: The pope and president spent more than 30 minutes alone together…A Vatican press release said the president’s discussions with the pope and with the Vatican’s foreign affairs experts focused on “themes of international politics, such as the Middle East peace process,” but also on the importance of dealing with the ethical dimension of the economy in the continuing attempt to address the global financial crisis.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI should have strongly told Sarkozy that he was not upholding “Christian values” by continuing to ill-treat Roma.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that Jesus Christ clearly told the world to help the helpless, defenseless and downtrodden and love them, and He showed the way. The Pope, being the acclaimed representative of God on earth, should have raised his voice against continuous Roma maltreatment in France when Sarkozy came to see him.

Rajan Zed further said that Pope should recognize, acknowledge and affirm the Roma as children of God who deserved to be treated like all other people-as equals. Pope should have explained Sarkozy that as a Christian, Sarkozy should offer the Roma protection, compassion, and love and act as God wanted him to act, as distinctly defined in The Bible.

Zed pointed out that the apartheid like conditions of the Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, racist slogans on Internet, etc.

Being the most powerful religious leader in the world, it was Pope’s moral obligation to make efforts to stop the frequent human rights violations suffered by Roma in France and rest of the Europe, Rajan Zed added. (ANI)