Pope prays for all refugees from Mediterranean to Belarus

image Barry Hunter

Source: Vatican News

Following the the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis, with pilgrims in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis spokes about the many migrants around the world, risking, and often losing, their lives as they embark on their perilous journeys in search of a better life.

The Holy Father noted how many migrants are exposed to "very serious dangers", and how many lose their lives at our borders. "I feel sorrow at the news of the situation in which so many of them find themselves."

He mentioned in particular, last week's tragedy in the English Channel in which up to 30 women, children and men drowned; the migrants stuck in terrible conditions on the borders of Belarus, many of whom are children; and those who drown in the Mediterranean.

He also referred to the many migrants, who, in attempting to cross the Mediterranean are repatriated to North Africa, "captured by traffickers, who turn them into slaves. They sell the women, torture the men," said the Pope.

Pope Francis prayed for all those who this week, "have tried to cross the Mediterranean seeking a land of well-being and finding there, instead, a grave." To all those, and to all the others, Pope Francis assured his prayers, and also his heart.

"Let us think of the migrants, of their suffering, and let us pray in silence," he concluded.