Pope Francis has warned that people's fears risk making them racist in his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
"It is not just about migrants: it is also about our fears," read the message, which the Vatican released on Monday ahead of the day on September 29.
"The problem is not that we have doubts and fears. The problem is when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even - without realizing it - racist. "In this way, fear deprives us of the desire and the ability to encounter the other, the person different from myself; it deprives me of an opportunity to encounter the Lord". The pope said that "our humanity" is on the line in our approach to migrants. "Compassion motivated that Samaritan - for the Jews, a foreigner - not to pass by," the message read. "Compassion is a feeling that cannot be explained on a purely rational level. "Compassion strikes the most sensitive chords of our humanity, releasing a vibrant urge to "be a neighbour" to all those whom we see in difficulty".
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