Vatican City, Dec 14, 2018 / 10:17 am
This Christmas it is particularly important to support refugees and migrants, Pope Francis said Friday, ahead of the Vatican Christmas Concert fundraiser in support of young refugee education.
"Christmas is always new because it invites us to be reborn in faith, to open ourselves to hope, to rekindle charity," Pope Francis said in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace Dec. 14.
"This year, in particular, calls us to reflect on the situation of many men, women and children of our time - migrants, displaced persons, and refugees - marching to escape wars, miseries caused by social injustice and climate change," the pope continued.
Pope Francis stressed his particular concern for the "little ones" among migrants, who face dangerous situations and "long marches on foot" when they should be "sitting among the school desks, like their peers."