This year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees is marked on Sunday 19 January.
The theme for 2014 is ‘Migrants and Refugees: Towards a Better World’.
In his message Pope Francis says: “Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more. The reality of migration, given its new dimensions in our age of globalisation, needs to be approached and managed in a new, equitable and effective manner; more than anything, this calls for international cooperation and a spirit of profound solidarity and compassion.”
Click here to read the full text of this year’s message