Vatican City, Sep 17, 2015 / 07:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday Pope Francis said that abandoned children and exploited sex workers forced to live on the street are a “shameful reality” in modern society, and encouraged efforts to find more concrete ways to help them.

“(These) sad realities…are the result of indifference, poverty, family and social violence, and human trafficking,” the Pope said Sept. 17.