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".
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