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An abusive “safe” home’s deadly fire has killed at least 35 girls and injured numerous others.
The 8 March fire at the state-run Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home in Guatamala has attracted widespread charges of abusive conditions and mistreatment.
The fire is said to have started when a group of girls and teenagers rioted to protest physical and sexual abuse at the home.
During the riot a mattress was set alight. The fire then spread to the rest of the facility.
The girls who died were unable to get out because they were locked in a room, apparently as a punishment.
The night before the fire 60 children escaped from the center.
The Home was developed to shelter and protect up to 400 abandoned and at-risk girls and teens.
At present there are about 750 living there, many of whom are in trouble with the Police.
Praying for God’s console the victims’ families and “for all the girls and boys who are victims of violence, maltreatment, exploitation and war” in the world, Pope Francis said:
“This is a plague, a hidden cry that must be listened to by all of us. We can’t continue to pretend not to see and not to hear it.”
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