Pope marks migration day, urges policies to benefit families

Published: 2007-01-16

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Political policies and humanitarian assistance to help migrant and refugee families stay together or reunite will benefit host societies because they help newcomers integrate, Pope Benedict XVI said. Marking the World Day for Migrants and Refugees Jan. 14, the pope used his Sunday Angelus address to ask the international community and individual nations to adopt policies aimed at safeguarding the family bonds of migrants and refugees. In the Gospel account of Jesus, Mary and Joseph being forced to flee to Egypt, he said, people can see "the painful situation of many migrants," especially refugees, the displaced and the persecuted. Forced to leave their homes because of poverty, war or persecution, the families of the migrants can become extremely fragile, the pope said. Pope Benedict told a crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square that the United Nations estimates there are 200 million migrants in the world who have left their homes for economic reasons, 9 million refugees forced to flee and about 2 million youths who have left their home countries in order to study.

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