Happy ending: Meriam Ibrahim arrives in Rome, meets with Pope Francis

At long last, Meriam Ibrahim – the Christian woman sentenced to death for “apostasy” in Sudan, and forced to give birth to her second child while chained to a wall – has escaped the clutches of what passes for the Sudanese legal system, and arrived in Rome en route to the United States, as reported by CNN:

After her release, she and her husband, American Daniel Wani, were detained for two days, accused of falsifying travel documents after going to the airport in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. They were trying to fly to the United States with their baby daughter, who was born while Ibrahim was in prison, and toddler son.

Now their dream of starting a new life in the United States appears to be on the verge of becoming reality.

Not only that, but Ibrahim and her family met with Pope Francis at his private residence in Domus Santa Marta in Vatican City.

During the meeting Thursday, which lasted about half an hour, Ibrahim thanked the Pope for his and the Roman Catholic Church’s support and prayers, the Vatican said.

He, in turn, thanked Ibrahim and her family for their “courageous witness and constancy of faith.”

Francis also played with the children, 18-month-old Martin and 2-month-old Maya, and greeted the Italian diplomats involved in her journey to Italy.

With this gesture, the Vatican said, the Pope “desired to show his closeness, attention and prayer also to all those who suffer for their faith, in particular to Christians who are enduring persecution or limitations imposed upon their religious freedom.”

Glad to see the government of Italy was willing to step up get Ibrahim out of that hell-hole.  The situation never seemed like something the U.S. government wanted to deal with, even though Ibrahim’s husband was an American citizen, and those imprisoned children had an American father.  Hopefully this family gets to live happily ever after in the United States, where we place a high value on religious freedom.  Well, at least on paper.  The old paper, not the new papers.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.