Pope Francis on Tuesday called on countries to protect migrants as he condemned the treatment of refugees as mere “pawns on the chessboard of humanity.'”
The pope’s statement came in a message for the Vatican’s next “World Day of Migrants and Refugees,” set for January 19.
“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity,” he said in the message titled “Towards a Better World”.
“They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes.”
The statement was presented in a Vatican press conference by Italian Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees.
“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity,” Francis said in his message.
The pontiff called for serious efforts to address poverty, which he said often drives people to migrate, and for international cooperation to tackle problems that individual countries can’t address on their own.
“There is a fear that society will become less secure, that identity and culture will be lost, that competition for jobs will become stiffer and even that criminal activity will increase,” the pope said.
He called on the media to report not only isolated cases of misconduct but also “the honesty, rectitude and goodness of the majority.”
Sources
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