BARCELONA, Spain – As Europe faces a mounting crisis of war refugees, mostly from the Middle East, the Pope appealed to Catholic European parishes and religious communities Sunday to provide shelter to migrant families.
"Every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe, take in one family" Radio Vatican quoted Pope Francis as saying during the Sunday Angelus prayers at St Peter’s Square.
His comments came as thousands of refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and other poor and violent countries continue to arrive in Europe, trying to reach mainly Austria and Germany.
The Pope said his gesture of solidarity would start in the Vatican, where two parishes will take in a family of refugees in coming days.
The Pope said that, as we witness the “tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees that flee death in conflict and hunger and are on a journey of hope, the Gospel calls us to be close to the smallest and to those who have been abandoned.”
Most of the refugees are fleeing from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
This week, thousands arrived in Hungary, en route to Germany, the place of choice of most refugees since Germany is Europe´s wealthiest country.
Others are also wishing to get to Austria, Sweden, France and the UK. The refugees are being smuggled to Europe mainly through Greece and Italy.
Pressured by the situation, Germany agreed to let refugees in, but on Sunday its Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country will not make that “the practice for the coming days.”
The tragedy of the refugees was driven home this week by the death of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Kurdish boy who drowned with his older brother and their mother as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey.
A news agency photograph of Alan’s tiny body, in a red t-shirt and black trousers, face down in the sand, was seen around the world, moving many to the plight of the tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds who have poured into Europe over the past several weeks.
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