ROME (CNS) — Pope Francis called on the people of the United States to welcome migrants and urged those who are welcomed to respect the laws of the country.
“To all people (of the U.S.) I ask: take care of the migrant who is a promise of life for the future. To migrants: take care of the country that welcomes you; accept and respect its laws and walk together along that path of love,” the pope said Oct. 26 during a live video conversation with teenagers from around the world.
Pope Francis was speaking with teens participating in a program of the international network of “Scholas Occurrentes.” At the event, broadcast by the U.S. Spanish-language network Telemundo, the host asked the pope for a message to immigrants in the U.S.
Many face difficulties after the Trump administration’s recent call to tighten immigration laws, by raising the standard of proof for asylum seekers and limiting family members of current immigrants who can enter the country.
Pope Francis said the U.S. bishops “have told me about what you suffer” and he is aware that “there are people that do not want you.”
“I am a son of immigrants. And if there weren’t people who helped my father when he arrived at 22 years old, I would not be here today,” the pope said.
The call to welcome the migrant and the stranger, he added, is not a personal request he made as pope but a mandate given “by someone much more important than myself.”
“God said it and the Bible is clear,” the pope said. “Receive the migrant, receive the refugee, because you too were a migrant and refugee from Egypt. Jesus was also a refugee; they wanted to cut the little child’s head off.”
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