2 More vehement still becomes Our commiseration as we gaze at the multitude of little children who "ask for bread when there is no one to break it for them" ( Jer. Thren . iv, 4). These little ones, in their innocence, are bearing the worst of the burden. Squalid and wretched, they are condemned to watch the vanishing of the joys proper to their age, and to have their rightful laughter hushed upon their young lips as they gaze with bewilderment around them.
Source: Nova Impendet (Vatican.va)