Refugees are subject to a "death sentence" of indifference in countries where they seek shelter, young Catholics said Friday at a faith gathering in Poland which has drawn hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from across the globe.
War, conflict and poverty in the Middle East and parts of Africa have triggered Europe's largest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, with some EU countries refusing to accept asylum seekers over security and economic concerns.
"We refuse hospitality to people, who seeking a better life and sometimes just wanting to stay alive, knock on the doors of our countries, churches and houses," young Catholics said in a statement during a theatrical open-air religious ceremony.
"Instead of finding hospitality, they find death in the waters off (Italian island) Lampedusa, on the coasts of Greece, in refugee camps.
"Thirty thousand refugees have been sentenced to death in recent years. Sentenced to death by whom? Who will sign their death sentence?"
The Rome-based Catholic Sant'Egidio group said 30,000 people have lost their lives attempting to reach Europe since 1988.
Known for championing the rights of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis is headlining the World Youth Day faith event in and around the southern Polish city of Krakow until Sunday.
We "embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war," Francis told hundreds of thousands of cheering youths gathered in Krakow's sprawling Blonia meadow.
Francis embraced Holocaust survivors and "Righteous" Christians who saved Jews from genocide during World War II at an emotional visit to the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in the nearby town of Oswiecim earlier Friday.
As he arrived Wednesday in Krakow the pontiff urged Poland to welcome people fleeing conflict and hardship, chastising a right-wing government that has refused to welcome refugees citing security risks.
Refugees are subject to a “death sentence” of indifference in countries where they seek shelter, young Catholics said Friday at a faith gathering in Poland which has drawn hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from across the globe.
War, conflict and poverty in the Middle East and parts of Africa have triggered Europe’s largest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, with some EU countries refusing to accept asylum seekers over security and economic concerns.
“We refuse hospitality to people, who seeking a better life and sometimes just wanting to stay alive, knock on the doors of our countries, churches and houses,” young Catholics said in a statement during a theatrical open-air religious ceremony.
“Instead of finding hospitality, they find death in the waters off (Italian island) Lampedusa, on the coasts of Greece, in refugee camps.
“Thirty thousand refugees have been sentenced to death in recent years. Sentenced to death by whom? Who will sign their death sentence?”
The Rome-based Catholic Sant’Egidio group said 30,000 people have lost their lives attempting to reach Europe since 1988.
Known for championing the rights of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis is headlining the World Youth Day faith event in and around the southern Polish city of Krakow until Sunday.
We “embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war,” Francis told hundreds of thousands of cheering youths gathered in Krakow’s sprawling Blonia meadow.
Francis embraced Holocaust survivors and “Righteous” Christians who saved Jews from genocide during World War II at an emotional visit to the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in the nearby town of Oswiecim earlier Friday.
As he arrived Wednesday in Krakow the pontiff urged Poland to welcome people fleeing conflict and hardship, chastising a right-wing government that has refused to welcome refugees citing security risks.
