“Respect for the dead and devotion to the saints, the gipsy concept of morals, love for nature and the importance of God in everyday life”: these are some of the characteristics of the gipsy population discussed at the recent World Parliament of Religions and underlined by Sergio Rodríguez, Salesian Father and member of the secretariat for the Pastoral Care of Gipsies of the Archdiocese of Barcelona (where the Parliament was held). It is the first time that gipsies have had the chance to become protagonists at the World Parliament of Religions. The meeting brought together hundreds of delegates of various religious traditions who wished to know more about the customs of gipsies, the non-violent character of their life or the conception of work in the gipsy mentality. “It was not just a conference: passages of holy scripture were read out, interspersed with phrases of popular devotion or “cople”, short musical pieces says Rodríguez -. Gipsies represent a paradigm of peaceful co-existence between Hinduism, Christianity and Islam”.
