Pope Francis Daily

The “challenge of
migration cannot be met with a mind-set of violence and indifference, nor by
offering merely partial solutions. Addressing ambassadors accredited to the
Holy See, Pope Francis again strongly denounced populism and nationalism that
weaken the multilateral political system.

During his traditional
audience in the Vatican with ambassadors from around the world on Monday
morning, 7 January, as customary, the Pontiff reflected on the current
international landscape, identifying migration as one of its main challenges.
After referring to the provisional agreement between the Holy See and China on
the appointment of bishops, the result of a “lengthy and thoughtful institutional
dialogue which “for the first time after so many years brought all the
Bishops in the country “in full communion with the Successor of Peter and with
the universal Church, he highlighted the “primacy of justice and law and the
need to protect the “most vulnerable, especially refugees and migrants. “I
appeal to governments to provide assistance to all those forced to emigrate on
account of the scourge of poverty and various forms of violence and
persecution, as well as natural catastrophes and climatic disturbances, and to
facilitate measures aimed at permitting their social integration in the
receiving countries, Pope Francis said.

He also called on the
international community “to prevent individuals from being constrained to
abandon their families and countries, and to allow them to return safely and
with full respect for their dignity and human rights.

Pope Francis had
previously addressed this same issue at the Angelus on the Solemnity of the
Epiphany when he brought attention to the “49 people saved in the Mediterranean
Sea who for days “have been aboard two NGO ships, seeking a safe port to
disembark, and made a “heartfelt appeal to European leaders that they
demonstrate concrete solidarity with them.