Pope Francis this week that there should be less strict immigration rules so more people can cross foreign borders.
The pope told those in attendance at his weekly General Audience, “Instead of stricter laws and more armed borders, what is needed is more safe and regular ways to get in, and a global system of management of migration based on justice, brotherhood, and unity.”
“Let’s be clear: there are people who work on a daily basis and in every way to turn away migrants,” the pope said. “And this is a very bad thing to do when you don’t feel guilty about it.”
He insisted that God “shares the story of migrants; God is with them; he suffers along them; he weeps with them; with migrants.” He also said that the Lord is with the migrants, not with people who turn them away.
Like Good Samaritans, Francis praised the work of NGOs and other groups that “do their best to help and save the hurt and abandoned migrants on their routes of desperate hope.”
“These brave men and women are a part of a humanity that won’t let the bad culture of apathy and waste take over,” he said. “Our carelessness and attitude of dumping are what kill migrants.”
“And I ask you: do you pray for these migrants? Do you pray for people who come to our country to escape danger? And “you” want to get rid of them.”
Along with pushing for easier international movement, Francis has called people who want stronger, less open borders “xenophobic.”
The pope and many bishops in Europe have called for more openness to refugees and easier ways to move. However, African prelates have strongly opposed this approach, saying that mass migration hurts their people and shouldn’t be supported.
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, and a Nigerian, has said that the large number of people leaving his country is proof that the government has failed.
“The government should make Nigeria their home.” He said, “The same should be true for other African countries.”
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