• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Afghans make their way to a bus taking them to a refugee processing center upon arrival at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., Aug. 24, 2021. (CNS photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

Make sure evacuated kids will be reunited with parents, Vatican paper says

August 25, 2021
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Afghanistan, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Heartbreaking images of mothers and fathers handing their infants and toddlers to U.S. soldiers during the evacuation of Kabul were like seeing the desperation of Jochebed, Moses’ mother, as she put him in a basket in the Nile River to save him, said an editorial in the Vatican newspaper.

Headlined “Afghan Moses,” the front-page article reflected on how those scenes represented, for Moses and the Afghan children, “a traumatic separation” caused by “violence and oppression” as mothers and fathers “abandon” their children in order to save them.

“We have to find the courage to stand before the waters of the Nile, which carry away the basket with a child inside, while his sister Miriam tries to see what will become of her brother,” said the Aug. 25 editorial, written by Father Luigi Maria Epicoco, a 40-year-old theologian, philosopher and contributor to the paper.

“In our powerlessness we could, however, become like Miriam and feel responsible” for what happens to these children and find a way, like Miriam did, for them to be happily reunited again, the priest wrote.

The Vatican has expressed deep concern over the evolving crisis in Afghanistan.

Msgr. John Putzer, chargé d’affaires of the Holy See’s Permanent Mission for Geneva-based U.N. agencies, repeated Pope Francis’ appeal from Aug. 15, asking that “solutions can be found at the table of dialogue.”

“Only this way,” the pope had said, “can the battered population of that country — men, women, elderly and children — return to their own homes, and live in peace and security, in total mutual respect.”

Msgr. Putzer repeated that message at a special session of the Human Rights Council Aug. 24.

“At this critical time,” he said, according to Vatican News, “it is of vital importance to support the success and safety of humanitarian efforts within the country, in a spirit of international solidarity, so as not to lose the progress that has been made, especially in the areas of health care and education.”

He urged the entire international community to “move from declaration to action” by welcoming refugees “in a spirit of human fraternity.”

Aloysius John, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis, said “we are facing a huge international crisis and social collapse in Afghanistan,” according to L’Osservatore Romano Aug. 25.

“There are more than 1 million displaced people, and it’s estimated that today about 700,000 Afghans are trying to find safe refuge and to leave their villages and homes,” he said.

Nearly 800,000 children already suffer from malnutrition there, and a third of the population is at risk of dying of hunger, he added.

With that, the COVID-19 pandemic and all the problems and risks unfolding concerning security and education, it is proving to be “one of the worst crises caused by mankind,” he said.

Read more Vatican

Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message

New Catholic scouting patch honors Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says

Jesus did not ignore those in need, and neither should Christians, pope says

Cardinal Czerny asks church to remember seafarers on Sea Sunday

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • superman Movie Review: ‘Superman’

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

  • Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

| Latest Local News |

Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

| Latest World News |

Church of England weighs proposal to place St. Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration

Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message

As excavation begins at Irish maternity home, Catholic experts urge fact-based news reporting

White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package

From Boston to Baton Rouge, faithful unite to help Texas flood victims

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Church of England weighs proposal to place St. Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration
  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52
  • Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message
  • As excavation begins at Irish maternity home, Catholic experts urge fact-based news reporting
  • Question Corner: Can we bring the Precious Blood to the sick?
  • Impact of DOGE cuts on migrants, refugees
  • White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package
  • From Boston to Baton Rouge, faithful unite to help Texas flood victims
  • New Catholic scouting patch honors Pope Leo XIV

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED