In a prominent front-page article in its July 20 edition, the Vatican newspaper lamented the death of 33 Sudanese refugees in the desert.
As the refugees fled their nation’s civil war, their bus broke down in a remote desert area, and they died of thirst.
“The deaths of the 33 passengers in the desert represent more than just a humanitarian tragedy,” Francesco Citterich wrote in his L’Osservatore Romano article. “A bus stranded in the middle of nowhere, unnoticed for weeks, has become the symbol of a crisis that continues to unfold day after day, far from the international spotlight, while defenseless civilians continue to pay the ultimate price.”