VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis yesterday said “mere tolerance” toward migrants and asylum seekers is not enough and he called for a “globalisation of charity” towards those fleeing warzones and poverty.
“It is necessary to respond to the globalisation of migration with the globalisation of charity and cooperation, in such a way as to make the conditions of migrants more humane,” the pontiff said in a message to mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees next January.
“Large numbers of people are leaving their homelands, with a suitcase full of fears and desires, to undertake a hopeful and dangerous trip in search of more humane living conditions,” he said in the text of an address he will give January 18.
“Often, however, such migration gives rise to suspicion and hostility, even in ecclesiastical communities, prior to any knowledge of the migrants’ lives or their stories of persecution and destitution,” he said.
AFP
