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CV NEWS FEED // In his August 28 General Audience, Pope Francis broke from his regular catechesis and spoke on the importance of providing refuge and help for migrants.
“I would like to pause with you to think about the people who – even at this moment – are crossing seas and deserts to reach a land where they can live in peace and safety,” the Pope said, according to an English translation of the text published by the Vatican Press Office.
Deserts and seas on migratory routes are often deadly to those crossing, he said. The Mediterranean and some deserts are becoming, or already, “cemeteries,” and many of those deaths are often preventable. Sometimes migrants are even abandoned in deserts.
“It must be said clearly: there are those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants – to repel migrants. And this, when done with awareness and responsibility, is a grave sin,” he said:
Let us not forget what the Bible tells us: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him” (Ex 22:21). The orphan, the widow and the stranger are the quintessential poor whom God always defends and asks to be defended.
The Pope’s remarks come amid a standoff between Italian bishops and the country’s government regarding immigration. Italian conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has supported more restrictive measures related to migration to Italy, according to a 2023 report from Politico. From 2022 to 2023, the number of migrants to Italy increased by 50%, according to a report from Etias.com.
The Daily Compass reported on August 27 that the Italian Episcopal Conference recently financed a sailboat traveling with another ship manned by members of Mediterranea Saving Humans, who “have returned to the sea in search of illegal migrants to rescue and bring back to Italy.”
Pope Francis said in his General Audience there are “many good people who are there on the front line” with Mediterranea and other organizations. He commended those around the world who strive to help save and rescue migrants who are injured and abandoned.
“These courageous men and women are a sign of a humanity that does not allow itself to be contaminated by the malign culture of indifference and rejection – it is our indifference and that attitude of rejection that kills migrants,” he said.
Pope Francis cited Scripture multiple times in the address, including a verse from Psalm 136:16 that tells of how God “led His people through the wilderness.”
These words communicate that God accompanies migrants, “suffers with them… weeps and hopes with them….” Pope Francis said.
“It will be good for us today: the Lord is with our migrants in the mare nostrum, the Lord is with them, not with those who repel them,” he added.
The solution to preventing migrants from crossing deadly deserts and seas isn’t more restrictive laws or the “militarization of borders,” he said.
“Instead, we will obtain it by extending safe and legal access routes for migrants, providing refuge for those who [flee] from war, violence, persecution and various disasters; we will obtain it by promoting in every way a global governance of migration based on justice, fraternity and solidarity,” he said, adding:
And by joining forces to combat human trafficking, to stop the criminal traffickers who mercilessly exploit the misery of others.
The Pope encouraged people who are unable to directly help migrants to pray.
