Pope Leo urges Catholics to help immigrants during mass at Vatican

Reuters

Pope Leo urged the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday (October 5) to show compassion toward migrants, reinforcing his message of inclusion just days after denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump’s tough immigration stance.

Addressing thousands of pilgrims during a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the first U.S.-born pontiff said migrants must not be met with “the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination.”

He called on Catholics to “open our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope.”

Pope Leo’s earlier remarks on September 30, in which he questioned whether the Trump administration’s immigration measures aligned with the Church’s pro-life principles, have stirred sharp criticism from conservative Catholics in the United States.

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