SW News: Pope Francis invited everyone to pray for the millions of children who are suffering around the world, especially those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war. “An abandoned child is our fault,” the Holy Father said in a video prepared by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network announcing his prayer intention for the month of November.

“There are still millions of boys and girls who suffer and live in conditions very similar to slavery,” the Pope said, stressing that these children are not mere numbers but humans with names and an identity that God has given them. "Every marginalized child living without schooling, without a family, without healthcare is “a cry that rises up to God and shames the system that we adults have built.”

The UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) has reported that one billion children currently live in multidimensional poverty that is without basic access to education, healthcare, shelter, food, sanitation, or water. The agency also estimates that 153 million children are orphans.

Fr Frédéric Fornos, International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, said that November's intention “opens our eyes, ears, and hearts to millions of forgotten children who suffer in silence on the streets and in hidden labor, victims of violence and war, migrants and refugees. In the face of indifference and impotence, we must pray.”

The Pope concluded by stating that it is a collective responsibility that "no child feels left alone or abandoned — they are entitled to an education and to feel the love of a family so they know that God does not forget them.”