Pope calls on Catholics to house refugees as critics urge U.S. to do the same

Pope Francis told his followers to open their arms to the thousands of migrants who were “fleeing death” from war or hunger on Sunday. He said the Vatican would lead the way by offering shelter to two families. Francis cited Mother Teresa, the European-born nun who cared for the poorest in India, in making his appeal in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square. “Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeting death by war and by hunger, and who are on a path toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be neighbors to the smallest and most abandoned, to give them concrete hope,” Francis said.

May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe host a family, starting with my diocese of Rome

Pope Francis

The United States came under more pressure on Sunday to help Europe find sanctuary for a flood of immigrants displaced by war and chaos, but Washington showed no signs of planning a dramatic increase in its intake of refugees. David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee and former British foreign secretary, called on the United States to bring out “the kind of leadership America has shown on these kind of issues” in the past. State Department spokesman John Kirby, in an interview with Reuters late on Saturday, offered no indication the United States would be greatly boosting the number of immigrants it would allow into the country.

There is a significant vetting process here for folks from Syria that we have to follow.

State Department spokesman John Kirby

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