Pope to migrants: You are at the
centre of the Church’s heart
Pope Francis meets with migrants at the diocesan Caritas
centre in Rabat.
By Christopher Wells
Pope Francis addressed the ongoing phenomenon of mass
migration on Saturday, during a meeting with migrants at the diocesan Caritas
centre in Rabat.
"A wound that cries to heaven"
The Pope said the encounter gave him “the chance once more to
express my closeness to all of you, and together with you to discuss a great
and deep wound that continues to afflict our world at the beginning of this
twenty-first century. A wound that cries out to heaven”.
In his address,
Pope Francis spoke about the Global
Compact, adopted at an Intergovernmental Conference held in Marrakech
in December 2018. He stressed the importance of the document as “an important
step forward for the international community”, saying the Compact helps us see
that “it is not just about migrants”, but about the face we want to give our
society, and about the value of human life”.
At the centre of the Church's heart
Speaking directly to the migrants present, the Holy Father
said, “You are not the marginalized; you are at the centre of the Church’s
heart”.
Pope Francis suggested four words – welcoming, protecting,
promoting, and integrating – which he said, “can help us find shared strategies
to create… spaces for conferring dignity”. These four words “form a frame of
reference for us all”, he said. “For we are all involved in this effort… and
all of us are needed in the work of building a more dignified, safe, and
fraternal life”.
Every person has a right to the future
Concluding his address, Pope Francis once again addressed
migrants directly. “Dear migrant friends, the Church is aware of the sufferings
that accompany your journey, and she suffers with you”, he said. “Every human
being has the right to life”, the Pope insisted, “every person has the right to
dream and to find his or her rightful place in our ‘common home’!”
“Every person has a right to the future”.
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