Vatican City, May 28, 2016 / 08:54 am
The story of a young migrant girl who drowned at sea was at the heart of Pope Francis' address to some 400 children who on Saturday had traveled to the Vatican from the southern Italian region of Calabria.
Speaking off the cuff to the children who had arrived by the "Treno per Bambini" – "Children's Train" – and who represented various religions, cultures, and ethnicities, the Pope asked them to come up with a name for the unknown girl.
"Let us think of this little girl: what was her name? I do not know: a little girl with no name," the pontiff said, according to Vatican Radio's translation. "Each of you give her the name you would like, each in his heart. She is in heaven, she is looking on us."
Pope Francis told the story of the little girl as it was recounted to him by a rescue worker who had attempted to save the child, only to succeed in saving her lifejacket.