Memorable Pope Francis Quotes on Immigration

Pope Francis consistently stood as a moral voice for compassion, urging the world to see migrants not as threats, but as fellow human beings deserving of dignity and love. Since the beginning of his papacy in 2013, the Pope made immigration a central theme in his public speeches, encyclicals, and pastoral visits. 

To honor his legacy, we reflect on his powerful words: 

“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories," he told the U.S. Congress in September 2015. 

"It is violence to build walls and barriers to stop those who look for a place of peace," he said in a letter to a Church association in Albania in September 2015. 

"It's hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help," he told a meeting of German faithful at the Vatican in October 2016. 

“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women, and men who leave or are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more.” He said in a message for the 2014 World Day of Migrants and Refugees in September of 2013. 

Pope Francis’s words challenge both the faithful and the global community to rise above fear and political divides, to see the stranger as neighbor—and to never forget the Gospel command: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”