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28 May POPE FRANCIS: GENERAL AUDIENCE

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In Jordan I thanked the Authorities and the people for their efforts in welcoming the many refugees from war torn areas, a humanitarian effort that deserves and requires the constant support of the international Community. I was struck by the generosity of the Jordanian people in welcoming refugees, the many who flee from war in that area. May the Lord bless this welcoming people, may he greatly bless them! And we must pray that the Lord bless this hospitality and ask all international institutions to help them in this work of hospitality that they are carrying out. During the pilgrimage to other places, too, I encouraged the respective authorities to continue in their efforts to ease tensions in the Middle East, especially in martyred Syria, and to continue to seek a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Therefore, I invited the President of Israel and the President of Palestine, both men of peace and peacemakers, to come to the Vatican to pray together with me for peace. And please, I ask you not to leave us alone: pray, pray much that the Lord may give us peace, that He may give us peace in that blessed Land! I am counting on your prayers. Be strong in prayer at this time, pray intently that peace may come.[…]

[…]I especially turn my thoughts to the young people, the sick and newlyweds. We are about to conclude the Marian month. May the Mother of God, dear young people, be your refuge in the most difficult moments; may she sustain you, dear sick people, in courageously confronting your daily cross; and may she be your point of reference, dear newlyweds, so that you family may be a domestic hearth of prayer and mutual understanding. Thank you.

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25 May HOLY MASS: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

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[…] What a great grace it is to celebrate the Eucharist in the place where Jesus was born! I thank God and I thank all of you who have welcomed me on my pilgrimage: President Mahmoud Abbas and the other civil authorities; Patriarch Fouad Twal and the other bishops and ordinaries of the Holy Land, the priests, the good Franciscans, the consecrated persons and all those who labor to keep faith, hope and love alive in these lands; the faithful who have come from Gaza and Galilee, and the immigrants from Asia and Africa. Thank you for your welcome! […]

[…] Sadly, in this world, with all its highly developed technology, great numbers of children continue to live in inhuman situations, on the fringes of society, in the peripheries of great cities and in the countryside. All too many children continue to be exploited, maltreated, enslaved, prey to violence and illicit trafficking. Still too many children live in exile, as refugees, at times lost at sea, particularly in the waters of the Mediterranean. Today, in acknowledging this, we feel shame before God, before God who became a child. […]

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24 May MEETING WITH REFUGEES AND DISABLED YOUNG PEOPLE ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

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[…] As part of my pilgrimage I have greatly desired to meet with you who have had to leave your homes and your country as a result of violence and conflict. Here in Jordan you have found welcome and refuge. I have wanted also to meet with you, dear young people who bear the burden of physical disabilities. […]

[…] I thank the Jordanian authorities and people for the generous welcome they have extended to the immense number of refugees from Syria and Iraq. I also thank all those who offer them assistance and solidarity. I think too of the charitable work undertaken by Church institutions such as Caritas Jordan and others, who assist the needy regardless of their religious beliefs, ethnic origin or politics; in this way they reveal the radiant face of Jesus, full of kindness and love. May the Almighty and Merciful God bless all of you and every effort you make to alleviate the sufferings caused by war!

I urge the international community not to leave Jordan, who is so welcoming and so courageous, alone in the task of meeting the humanitarian emergency caused by the arrival of so great a number of refugees, but to continue and even increase its support and assistance. I renew my heartfelt appeal for peace in Syria. May the violence cease and may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer, through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal responsibility. […]

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24 May HOLY MASS: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

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[…] It is in this spirit that I embrace all of you: the Patriarch, my brother bishops and priests, the consecrated men and women, the lay faithful, and the many children who today make their First Holy Communion, together with their families. I also embrace with affection the many Christian refugees; let us all earnestly turn our attention to them, to the many Christian refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq: please bring my greeting to your families and communities, and assure them of my closeness.[…]

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24 May MEETING WITH THE AUTHORITIES OF THE KINGDOM OF JORDAN ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

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[…] Jordan has offered a generous welcome to great numbers of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, as well as to other refugees from troubled areas, particularly neighboring Syria, ravaged by a conflict which has lasted all too long. Such generosity merits, Your Majesty, the appreciation and support of the international community. The Catholic Church, to the extent of its abilities, has sought to provide assistance to refugees and those in need, especially through Caritas Jordan. […].

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22 May MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 103rd SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO)

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[…] Another grave and related issue confronting our world is that of mass migration: the sheer numbers of men and women forced to seek work away from their homelands is a cause for concern. Despite their hopes for a better future, they frequently encounter mistrust and exclusion, to say nothing of experiencing tragedies and disasters. Having made such sacrifices, these men and women often fail to find dignified work and fall victim to a certain “globalization of indifference”. Their situation exposes them to further dangers such as the horror of human trafficking, forced labour and enslavement. It is unacceptable that, in our world, slave labour has become common coin (cf. Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 24 September 2013). This cannot continue! Human trafficking is a scourge, a crime against the whole of humanity. It is time to join forces and work together to free its victims and to eradicate this crime that affects all of us, from individual families to the worldwide community (cf. Address to the New Ambassadors Accredited to the Holy See, 12 December 2013).

It is also time to reinforce existing forms of cooperation and to establish new avenues for expanding solidarity. This calls for: a renewed insistence on the dignity of every person; a more determined implementation of international labour standards; planning for a focused development on the human person as its central actor and primary beneficiary; a re-evaluation of the responsibilities of international corporations in the countries where they operate, including the areas of profit and investment management; and a concerted effort to encourage governments to facilitate the movement of migrants for the benefit of all, thus eliminating human trafficking and perilous travel conditions. Effective cooperation in these areas will be greatly assisted by defining future sustainable development goals. As I recently expressed to the Secretary General and Chief Executives of the United Nations: “Future sustainable development goals must therefore be formulated and carried out with generosity and courage, so that they can have a real impact on the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure decent work for all, and provide appropriate protection for the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and social development.” […]

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19 May ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE 66TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE ITALIAN EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE

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[…] Lastly, the lifeboat that you have to lower is a welcoming embrace to migrants: they flee intolerance, persecution, lack of a future. May no one turn his gaze elsewhere. Charity, which we witness in the generosity of so many people, is our way of life and of interpreting life: through the power of this dynamism, the Gospel will continue to spread by means of attraction. […]

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19 May ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF MEXICO ON THEIR AD LIMINA VISIT

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Thank you for your visit. I thank the President of the Conference, Cardinal Robles. The address which I have signed, I will now hand to each of you so that I can have a chance to greet you one by one as you requested. Thank you for your closeness. I have learned a great deal from what you have shared with me. You express the serious concern for your Churches: some are suffering terribly from those problems which Cardinal Robles mentioned. They are grave problems. However, I see that your Church stands on very firm foundations. Your bond with the Lord’s Mother is very strong…. And this is so important! It is very important! Mary will never leave you alone to face so many difficulties, such painful situations…. Those of her children who cross the border, with all the problems inherent in migration, those who do not arrive at the other end…. There are children dying, children killed by hired assassins…. These are all serious problems! And then there are drugs, which today cause you serious suffering. When a farmer says to you: “What do you want me to do? If I grow corn, I can subsist for a month. But if I grow “opium” I can subsist a whole year!”. Stay with your people always! The one piece of advice I have for you comes from my heart — the prepared address is equally from the heart, but this is even more so: dual transcendence. The first transcendence comes through praying to the Lord: do not forget prayer. It is a bishop’s “negotiation” with God on behalf of his people. Do not forget it! And the second transcendence is closeness to one’s people. And with these two things, go forth! With this dual transcendence, go ahead! Please pray for me and I will pray for you. Thank you very much! […]

[…] I know of your commitment to the those most in need, those deprived of resources, the unemployed, those working in inhuman conditions, those without access to social services, migrants in search of a better standard of living, farmers…. I know of your concern for the victims of drug trafficking and for the most vulnerable social groups, and of your commitment in defence of human rights and the integral development of the human person. All this, which is an expression of the “profound connection” between proclaiming the Gospel and seeking the good of others (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 178), undoubtedly contributes to giving credibility to the Church and relevance to the voice of her Pastors. […]

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15 May ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF LETTERS OF CREDENCE OF THE AMBASSADORS OF SWITZERLAND, LIBERIA, ETHIOPIA, SUDAN, JAMAICA, SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA TO THE HOLY SEE

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[…] Looking at the challenges that in this time of ours need to be urgently faced in order to build a more peaceful world, I would like to lay emphasis on two things: the arms trade and forced migration. […]

[…] Another challenge to peace is right before our eyes, and unfortunately in certain regions and at certain times takes on the character of a very real human tragedy: forced migration. This phenomenon is very complex and we must, of course, acknowledge the noteworthy efforts undertaken by international organizations, States, social powers, as well as religious communities and volunteers that all strive to respond in a civil and organized way to the most critical aspects like: emergencies and the most dire situations. But, here too, we realize that we cannot limit ourselves to helping in emergencies. The phenomenon has already manifested itself in all its breadth and, so to speak, historic character. The time has come to face it politically in a serious, responsible way, involving all levels: global, continental, the macro-regions, relations between States, down to the national and local level.[…]

[…]The phenomenon of forced migration is closely tied to conflict and war, and therefore also to the proliferation of weapons, which we spoke about earlier. These are the wounds of a world, which is our world, in which God placed us to live today and calls us to take responsibility for our brothers and for our sisters, that no human being may be violated in his dignity. It would be an absurd contradiction to speak of peace, to negotiate peace and, at the same time, promote or permit the arms trade. We can also think that it would be an attitude of cynicism to proclaim human rights and, simultaneously fail to take responsibility for the men and women who, forced to leave their homeland, die in the attempt or are not accepted by international solidarity. […]

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05 May ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF BURUNDI ON THEIR AD LIMINA VISIT

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[…] Thus consecrated in turn bear witness to their faith in Jesus with their whole lives. “They are a necessary and precious aid to the Church’s pastoral activity but also a manifestation of the deepest nature of our Christian vocation” (Africae Munus, n. 118). I acknowledge the admirable work that the religious congregations are carrying out in the social sphere of education and healthcare, or of help to refugees who are present in great numbers in their country. They reveal the “inseparable bond between our acceptance of the message of salvation and genuine fraternal love” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 179). I invite you to take great care of the religious life that has developed deeply in your local Churches. The many new communities which are being formed need your careful and prudent discernment in order to guarantee a solid formation for their members and to assist the changes they are called to live out in view of the good of the entire Church. […]