Pope calls for solidarity ahead of UN World Refugee Day
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for solidarity with refugees as he noted that Monday marks the annual United Nations World Refugee Day.
The Pope recalled that the theme for this year’s event is ‘We stand together #With Refugees’ and with all those forced to flee their lands. Refugees, he insisted, are people like everyone else, who have been deprived by war of their homes, their jobs, their parents and their friends.
“Their stories and their faces” he said, “call on us to renew our commitment for building peace through justice”. For this reason, he concluded, we want to stand together with them, “to meet them, to welcome them, to listen to them, to become with them builders of peace, according to God’s will”.
The Pope’s words came after the recitation of the Angelus prayer, as he greeted thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square.