Pope Leo XIV yesterday appealed to “everyone’s sense of responsibility” to protect migrant and refugee minors, stressing that children and teenagers are the most vulnerable and often endure “unspeakable suffering”. Source: EWTN News.
“Children and teenagers are the most vulnerable,” he said at the end of his weekly general audience, recalling that the World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated on Sunday.
Following his catechesis in St Peter’s Square, the pontiff noted that many minors endure “unspeakable suffering: violence, torture, exploitation, traumatic conditions, and it is not uncommon for them to lose their lives along migration routes”.
In light of this reality, he called for ensuring the protection and support of young migrants.
“I appeal to everyone’s sense of responsibility: Let us all feel a sense of involvement in the lives of these young people, who must always be protected and supported,” Pope Leo urged.
The Church celebrates the World Day of Migrants and Refugees each year to raise awareness about the situation of displaced persons and to promote initiatives of welcome, integration, and accompaniment, with particular attention to those in the most vulnerable circumstances.
In his message for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, titled “Even Just One of These Children,” Pope Leo XIV insisted that “public and private institutions are obliged to place the protection and dignity of every migrant child and adolescent at the centre” of their efforts.
In his catechesis, the Pope challenged the “prejudice” that portrays scientific and technological progress as being opposed to the Christian faith and warned of the “tragedy of atheistic humanism” described by French Jesuit Cardinal Henri de Lubac.
“In post-Christian humanisms, the human being and God are mistakenly presented as rivals: In order to assert his knowledge, his freedom, and his progress, man would have to emancipate himself from God. Ultimately, however, by denying the relationship with God, one also loses the possibility of affirming the transcendent value of the human person,” the pontiff said in St. Peter’s Square.
According to Leo, this interpretation “has brought about a change in the way contemporary man views the world, compared with previous ages,” opening the door to a “prejudice” that prevails especially in that part of Western culture that has lost its reference to Christian revelation.
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Pope calls for protection of migrant minors: It is everyone’s responsibility (By Victoria Cardiel, EWTN News)
