Pope says countries should ratify documents protecting refugees

Published: 2006-11-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI encouraged countries to ratify international documents aimed at protecting the rights of migrants, refugees and families and said the church should work to protect them from "hardships and humiliations." In his message for the annual World Day for Migrants and Refugees, the pope used the example of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt as a model of "the painful condition in which all migrants live, especially refugees, exiles, evacuees, internally displaced persons, those who are persecuted." The text for the pope's 2007 message, titled "The Migrant Family," was released during a Nov. 14 press conference at the Vatican. The World Day for Migrants and Refugees is held on different days in different countries. In the United States, National Migration Week will be celebrated Jan. 7-13.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .