VATICAN - Migrants, "close to the heart of the Church"

Monday, 20 January 2014

Vatican City ( Agenzia Fides) - After praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, January 19th, the Holy Father recalled the celebration of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, on the theme "Migrants and refugees: towards a better world", with these words: "A special greeting to the representatives of various ethnic communities gathered here, in particular the Catholic community in Rome. Dear friends, you are close to the heart of the Church, because the Church is a people on a journey toward the Kingdom of God, that Jesus Christ brought into our midst. Do not lose hope for a better future! I hope you are able to live in peace in the Countries that welcome you, and that they are able to maintain the values of your culture of origin. I would like to thank those who work with migrants and welcome and accompany them in their difficult times, in defending them from those that the Blessed Scalabrini called "merchants of human flesh", who want to enslave migrants! In particular, I wish to thank the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles, Scalabrini fathers and sisters who do so much good for the Church and become migrants with migrants. At the moment let us think about the many migrants, many refugees, their suffering, their lives, many times without a job, without documents, so much pain; and together we can all pray for migrants and refugees who live more serious and more difficult situations: Hail Mary ... ". (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/01/2014)


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