Since 2014, more than 20,000 migrants and refugees have died while trying to reach Europe from Africa, while thousands of others have been forcibly returned to Libya, which has received funding from the EU to train its coastguard to try and stop the crossings.
Four U.S. Catholic bishops called on government officials to consider the role and plight of U.S. migrant farmworkers during the coronavirus pandemic and made recommendations that include free testing and care should the workers test positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
A number of prominent Catholic leaders have joined grassroots organizations from Central America, Mexico, and the United States in releasing a five-point action plan to protect migrants and refugees during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Catholic migrant ministries of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras have called for an end to deportations during the COVID-19 crisis, saying the practice exposes an already vulnerable group to health and security risks – especially those sent summarily to countries of which they are not citizens.
Catholic leaders across the globe are pleading that migrants and refugees not be forgotten during the COVID-19 pandemic, insisting that it’s a public health issue affecting everyone – regardless of one’s legal status.
Canadian Jesuit Michael Czerny, made a cardinal by Pope Francis last October, became the titular pastor of a parish in the outskirts of Rome on Sunday.
For Guatemalans in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the feast day of “The Black Christ of Esquipulas” came early this year.
The shocking images of realistic-looking dolls wrapped in emergency thermal blankets laying in small cages greeted New Yorkers during the morning commute on June 12.
In the midst of a deadly government crackdown on its own citizens in Nicaragua, mounting tensions in Venezuela, and a crisis of family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border, several thousand delegates from across the Americas gathered in Bolivia last weekend to discuss how “The Joy of the Gospel” can evangelize a wounded Church.
Pope Francis has kicked off a two-year “Share the Journey” campaign to encourage Catholics to break down barriers of fear and build bridges with migrants and refugees. In response, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling for a National Week of Prayer, Oct. 7-14.
