A conference:

A meeting began in the Vatican for national directors who oversee the pastoral care of Gypsies.

The meeting, which opened today, is focusing on relations with the itinerant population that numbers 36 million worldwide, half of them in India.

The purpose of the meeting is to study and stimulate the implementation of the "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of Gypsies," the first document of the Church, in its universal dimension, dedicated to gypsies and published on Dec. 8, 2005, by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

The organizing Vatican dicastery stated in a communiqué that the meeting is being attended by the national directors of all those countries in which there is a specific pastoral program for Gypsies. Included are European countries, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and India.

Participating in the meeting for the first time are representatives from Bangladesh, Chile, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Gypsies, known by different names, such as Romany, constitute a specific ethnic group which probably originated in northwestern India. In Europe alone their number oscillates between 9 million and 12 million, primarily in Eastern Europe.