Don’t ignore plight of migrants: Pope

Comparing migrants to Mary and Joseph, Pope Francis urged Roman Catholics to remember the plight of millions of migrants “driven from their land,” during Christmas Eve Mass.

“So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary. We see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day. We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away, but driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones,” Francis said.

Pope Francis in August released “a 20-point action plan to governments on refugees and migrants to try to galvanize their response to an issue seen by the Vatican as one of the biggest global challenges of the 21st century” (the Guardian, Aug. 21, 2017).

In 2016, Francis created the Vatican’s migrants and refugees section. The section’s website notes that it “helps the Church worldwide to support those who are forcibly displaced by conflict, natural disaster, persecution or extreme poverty; those who are making their difficult way to safety or are stuck; and those who fall victim to human trafficking.”