Pro-life principle requires help for refugees, Pope says

June 19, 2013

Christians must realize that the faces of refugees “reflect the face of Christ,” Pope Francis told his weekly public audience on June 19.

Noting that the World Day for Refugees would be observed the next day, the Pope asked the faithful to reflect on the situations facing refugee families, “often forced from their homes and homeland suddenly, losing all their possessions and security in order to escape violence, persecution or grave discrimination because of the religion they profess, the ethnic group they belong to or their political ideas.”

Faced with the risks of poverty, violence, and possible family breakdown in an unfamiliar culture, these families need understanding and help, the Pope said. He said that supplying help for refugees would be a show of support for human dignity and human life: a way of promoting the Gospel of Life.

In a related story, the Jesuit Refugee Service will inaugurate a photo exhibit on June 20—the World Day for Refugees—to dramatize the plight of refugees from Syria and Congo, two of the nations that have seen tens of thousands of people driven from their homes in recent months. The exhibit will open at the Gesu, the Jesuit-administered church in the center of Rome; it will also be shown in New York and Beirut.

 

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Further information:

• Help refugee families (L'Osservatore Romano)
• Francis: Face of Christ is Etched in Refugees (VIS)
• Pope: We see the face of Christ in refugees (Vatican Radio)