Migration should always be a free choice says Pope

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 24 - Migration should always be a free choice and never the only possible option, said Pope Francis during the Angelus prayer and blessing in St Peter's Square on Sunday, which is also the Catholic Church's World Day for Migrants and Refugees.
    "Migrating should be a free choice,,never the only one possible," said Francis.
    "In fact, for many today the right to migrate has become an obligation, while there should be a right not to migrate, to remain in one's own land," he continued, adding that every man and woman must "be guaranteed the possibility of living a dignified life in the society in which they find themselves".
    However, the pope recalled that "unfortunately, misery, war and the climate crisis are forcing so many people to flee".
    "Therefore, we are all called to create communities that are ready and open to welcome, promote, accompany and integrate those who knock on our doors," he said.
    Pope Francis has made protecting migrants and refugees a central theme of his ten-year pontificate.
    His first visit as pope in 2013 was to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, where many of the migrants and refugees making the dangerous sea crossing to Europe arrive.
    Political leaders in Italy and Europe have responded to the increase in the number of sea arrivals to Italy so far in 2023 compared to previous years by enacting emergency measures which the pope on Saturday said "is always good for alarmist propaganda".
    Instead, migration is, he said "a fact of our time, a process that involves three continents around the Mediterranean and that must be governed with wise foresight" involving "European responsibility". (ANSA).