Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Pope Francis meets refugees at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, in this April 16, 2016, file photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic universities need to study the root causes of forced migration and ways to counter the discrimination and xenophobic reactions it provokes in so many traditionally Christian nations, Pope Francis said.

"I would also like to invite Catholic universities to teach their students, some of whom will become leaders in politics, business and culture, a careful reading of the phenomenon of migration from the point of view of justice, global co-responsibility and communion in cultural diversity," he said.

The pope made his remarks during an audience Nov. 4 with members of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, who were attending a world congress in Rome on Nov. 1-4 titled, "Refugees and Migrants in a Globalized World: Responsibility and Responses of Universities."

Pope Francis praised the organization's efforts in the fields of research, formation and promoting social justice.

He called for more study "on the remote causes of forced migrations with the aim of finding practical solutions" because people have a right to not be forced to leave their homes.

"It is also important to reflect on the basic negative—sometimes even discriminatory and xenophobic—reactions that the welcoming of migrants is provoking in countries with a long-standing Christian tradition" in order to develop programs and ways to better form consciences, he said.

Pope Francis also called on Catholic universities to develop programs that would allow refugees living in camps and holding centers to take distance-learning courses and to grant them scholarships.

Efforts also are needed, he said, to recognize the academic degrees and qualifications migrants and refugees have earned in their homelands so that their new countries may better benefit from their knowledge.

Catholic universities, as leaders in promoting the social good, must do more, he said, for example, by encouraging students to volunteer to assist refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Our country is not only in a constitutional crisis; we are in a biblical crisis.
Terence SweeneyMay 21, 2025
A Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinMay 21, 2025
Pope Leo XIV meets with Vice President JD Vance after the formal inauguration of his pontificate at the Vatican on May 18. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo I helped to ensure that Catholicism would outlast the Roman Empire. His name is a reminder that our faith rises above contemporary politics and temporal authority.
The Gospel parable of the “wasteful sower” who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path “is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo XIV told 40,000 visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience.
Cindy Wooden May 21, 2025