During National Migration Week, the Church asks us to reflect on the conditions faced by migrants around the world. Traditionally, the Pope issues a statement for World Day of Migrants and Refugees but this year, at the request of bishops around the world, that day has been moved to September 29, the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Until then, here is a brief thought from Pope Francis’ 2018 message:
“Every stranger who knocks at our door is an opportunity for an encounter with Jesus Christ, who identifies with the welcomed and rejected strangers of every age (Matthew 25:35-43). The Lord entrusts to the Church’s motherly love every person forced to leave their homeland in search of a better future.[1] This solidarity must be concretely expressed at every stage of the migratory experience – from departure through journey to arrival and return. This is a great responsibility, which the Church intends to share with all believers and men and women of good will, who are called to respond to the many challenges of contemporary migration with generosity, promptness, wisdom and foresight, each according to their own abilities.
“In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that “our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate”
Read the entire message.