Pope Francis meets 7 ex-prostitutes from Nigerian, 13 others

Seven Nigerians were among 20 ex-prostitutes that Pope Francis visited for a chat in Rome.

Pope Francis surprised the 20 former prostitutes on Friday by knocking on their door in Rome and popping in for a chat.

Reports say 60% of prostitutes in Belgian towns and Italy are Nigerians.

The visit fell under what have been termed Francis’s “Fridays of Mercy”, whereby he carries out one unscheduled act of mercy a month on a Friday — mainly in or near Rome — throughout the pope’s Jubilee year, which started in December and runs to November.

In January, the pope visited a care home for the elderly and people in a vegetative state, while in February he went to a community for drug addicts.

In March he toured a refugee centre before visiting asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos in April.

The pontiff then spent time with the seriously mentally ill in May before visiting old and ill priests in June and dedicating his July “Friday of Mercy” to sick children in Krakow after praying for the victims of the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp.