Pope: every parish must host one migrant family

The pontiff says the gesture of solidarity will start in the tiny Vatican state where he lives.

Pope Francis laughs with a baby during a special audience with parish cells for the evangelization in Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Saturday. The Pope on Sunday called on every European parish and religious community to take in one migrant family each in a gesture of solidarity which, he said, would start in the tiny Vatican state where he lives.

Pope Francis called on Sunday on every European parish and religious community to take in one migrant family each in a gesture of solidarity which, he said, would start in the tiny Vatican state where he lives. The Vatican will shelter two families of refugees who are “fleeing death” from war or hunger, Pope Francis announced.

The Pope cited Mother Teresa, the European-born nun who cared for the poorest in India, in making his appeal in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square.

“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeting death by war and by hunger, and who are on a path toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be neighbours to the smallest and most abandoned, to give them concrete hope,” the Pope said. It’s not enough to say “Have courage, hang in there,” he added.

Applause for suggestion

“I appeal to the parishes, the religious communities, the monasteries and sanctuaries of all Europe to ... take in one family of refugees," he said after his customary Sunday address in the Vatican to applause from the crowd.