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Citing the Gospel, Pope Francis says migrants 'must be welcomed' and ‘integrated’
Pope Francis has cited the Gospel while calling for migrants to be “welcomed, encouraged and integrated” as Europe and the United States struggle to cater to unprecedented levels of global mass migration.
The pontiff, a steadfast advocate for asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants, said that many migrants are faced with the “drama of forced migration” and make treacherous journeys by sea in search of better lives which can sometimes lead to tragedy.
Speaking to an Italian pro-immigrant nonprofit called “ResQ” on Wednesday, he said needy migrants are often “exploited, rejected, abused and reduced to slavery” while traveling to the unknown.
Pope Francis has cited the Gospel while calling for migrants to be “welcomed, encouraged and integrated” as Europe and the United States struggle to cater to unprecedented levels of global mass migration. (Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images, left, and John Moore/Getty Images, right.)
POPE FRANCIS SAYS INTENTIONALLY ALLOWING MIGRANTS TO DIE IS A ‘GRAVE SIN’
He praised groups like ResQ which seeks to protect desperate migrants and refugees in danger in the Mediterranean Sea. The group has its own 128-foot long rescue boat that helps save migrants at sea.
“So we welcome the action of those who do not just observe things, criticizing from afar, but who get involved, offering some of their time, their ingenuity and their resources to alleviate the suffering of migrants, to save them, welcome them and integrate them,” Pope Francis said.
“The migrant must be welcomed, accompanied, encouraged and integrated. This generosity, this industriousness is in harmony with the Gospel, which invites us to do good to everyone, and in particular the last, the poorest, the most abandoned, the sick, people in danger.”
The crisis has deeply divided opinions in the West as residents and governments often grapple with the cost of housing and feeding migrants against humanitarian concerns. For instance, New York City spent $4.88 billion in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years combined providing shelter, food and other services to migrants.
“Faced with the vastness and complexity of the migratory phenomenon, the civil authorities do not always succeed in fully meeting their responsibilities,” the Pope added.
ICE NON-DETAINED DOCKET EXPLODES TO 7.4M CASES
Pope Francis speaking about migrants on Wednesday. (AP)
“Indeed, the rescue of those in danger of sinking in miserable vessels… is a very necessary task,” the Pope said. “The action pursued by your organization aims to save lives: the lives of people fleeing from places where serious conflicts rage, often triggering humanitarian crises and also involving the violation of fundamental human rights.”
“Dear friends, keep going forward! May Mary, help[er] of migrants, assist you in your work. I bless you and I accompany you with prayer.”
It is difficult to get an exact number of the number of migrants who have left their countries of origin throughout the crisis due to a lack of comparable data in many regions in the world. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates a record 6.5 million migrant immigrants moved to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2023, a jump of 10% compared to 2022.
Total net migration during the Biden administration is likely to exceed 8 million people, a recent New York Times report confirmed, citing Congressional Budget Office data. The crisis has squeezed federal, state and local finances.
It’s not the first time the pope has called on countries to open their borders to migrants.
Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Arizona. (John Moore/Getty Images)
At a gathering in the Vatican last year, he praised an initiative that created so-called “humanitarian corridors,” for refugees to travel into Europe safely.
“Safe, orderly, regular and sustainable migration is in the interest of all countries,” Pope Francis said.
The Sant’Egidio Catholic charity, the Federation of Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian Church spearheaded the ecumenical humanitarian transfer initiative in Italy, which has brought more than 6,000 people to Europe from 2016 to 2023.
Under the program, aid workers identify asylum candidates in refugee camps and process initial paperwork to bring them into Italy on humanitarian grounds. Once they arrive, they are then provided with assistance to settle and apply for asylum.
The Catholic Church teaches that secular governments have two obligations to balance when dealing with immigration and outsiders seeking refugee status within their borders.
These duties are outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the definitive document outlining the church’s doctrines on theological and social issues.
The first duty is to “welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person,” due to the fact that human beings “have the right to immigrate and thus government must accommodate this right to the greatest extent possible, especially financially blessed nations.”
The second duty, based on secular governments’ obligation to care for their citizens and maintain a healthy society, is “to secure one’s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By Alisa Shodiyev Kaff
June 11, 2026
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U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey resigned Thursday after clashing with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government over military spending, dealing the British leader a setback weeks before a critical NATO summit to include President Donald Trump.
Healey’s departure stemmed from a dispute over the delayed Defense Investment Plan (DIP) — the government’s long-promised roadmap for military investment and readiness — and as NATO allies face renewed pressure from Trump to boost defense spending.
“John Healey’s resignation is a seismic moment for the government and the Ministry of Defense,” Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Senior Associate Fellow Ed Arnold told Fox News Digital.
“For the government, it creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the Defense Investment Plan published.”
BRITISH PM KEIR STARMER MOVES UK MILITARY INTO ‘WAR-FIGHTING READINESS’
Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey speaks with British and Norwegian naval personnel at the unveiling of the Atlantic Bastion programme in Portsmouth, Britain, on Dec. 4, 2025. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)
Healey had been in intense, late-stage negotiations with Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves over the scale and timelines of the DIP.
Starmer reportedly refused to set out a timeline to reach 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2035 — a promise he made to Trump at last year’s NATO summit — and would not commit to a firm date for reaching 3%.
Instead, Starmer offered Healey a deal to spend 2.68% of GDP on defense by 2030, up only marginally from 2.6% next year, Reuters reported.
“You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country,” Healey wrote to Starmer in his resignation letter, warning that the financial constraints would “make the country less safe,” the outlet reported.
NATO CHIEF URGES MEMBERS TO ‘TURBOCHARGE’ DEFENSE PRODUCTION AS HE PAINTS PICTURE OF A WORLD BOUND FOR WAR
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose with NATO country leaders during the NATO Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool via Reuters)
“If the delay to the Defense Investment Plan was already undermining the government’s credibility on defense, John Healey’s resignation has blown a hole in its side,” Professor Kevin Rowlands of the RUSI defense and security think tank told Fox News Digital.
“The immediate consequence is not just political embarrassment for No. 10, but a significant loss of planning certainty at a time when the British Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, and industry really need clarity on what will be funded, and when,” he added.
The political fallout is expected to reverberate across the Atlantic, where Washington has increased pressure on European allies to fulfill their defense obligations. Trump has frequently criticized NATO alliance members as “free riders.”
On June 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the upcoming Ankara summit would be the “most important meeting” in NATO’s history because there are some things “that need to be cleared up and fixed.”
He added, “The United States is still in the NATO alliance, and we’ll be there.”
TRUMP EFFECT FORCES GERMANY TO REPRIORITIZE DEFENSE AS NATION PLAYS CATCH-UP IN MILITARY SPENDING
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer increased the military presence in Cyprus following an Iranian drone strike early Monday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images))
However, U.S. officials have made it clear that patience is wearing thin.
“Ahead of next month’s NATO summit, POTUS has been clear: Allies must fulfil their commitment to spending 5% of GDP on defense,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker posted on X this week.
Furthermore, a U.S. official noted that a U.K. funding package far lower than 18 billion pounds ($23 billion) would send a highly “negative” signal to Trump ahead of the Ankara meeting, according to The Times.
Starmer has pledged to lift spending to 3% in the next Parliament but Healey’s exit has exposed that the current strategy leaves the U.K. lagging behind key allies. By comparison, Germany plans to spend 3.7% of its GDP on defense by 2030.
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“Healey knows the threats we face, he knows the capabilities and shortfalls the armed forces have, and if he believes that the financial settlement is not enough to keep the country safe — to the extent that he cannot honorably stay in post — then we are in trouble,” Rowlands added.
“While the impact will mainly be felt on Whitehall, the international implications are severe with a NATO summit just three weeks away,” Arnold noted.
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After two years of strong performance driven by a shift to a war economy, Russia’s economic situation is weakening, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Euronews.
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And although the IMF raised its forecast for Russia’s 2026 growth in its April outlook from 0.8% to 1.1%, Georgieva told Euronews this did not reflect the full picture of the economic weakening.
“The higher oil prices do give a breather to Russia,” Georgieva said, arguing the hike cannot offset the bigger hit to Russia’s economy.
“They have depleted their buffers dramatically,” Georgieva said. The oil price windfall “appears to be used to rebuild buffers rather than to inject more investment into the economy,” she explained.
“Growth has slowed down significantly. Now we are projecting 1%. Before the war, their potential growth was 1.6%,” Georgieva pointed out.
The IMF managing director also told Euronews that it is important to consider other economic indicators to better understand Russia’s current economic situation.
“Inflation is high. That means that interest rates are high, almost 15%.”
The IMF does not expect to see “material impact on growth in Russia,” Georgieva said. “It is a country whose medium (and) long-term prospects have worsened significantly.”
She listed three grounds on which the prospects have worsened. The first is losing people.
“A country that was in a demographic decline to begin with now lost so many young people for a terrible reason,” Georgieva explained.
The second factor is the sanctions, specifically the way they “bite a lot on the technology front.”
“What we see in the oil and gas sector in Russia, there is a tremendous problem with lack of technological renewal that is restricting the ability of the sector to expand,” she said.
And the third is the fact that “Russia lost standing.”
“That translates into many tangible and non-tangible losses. I mean, just think of the young Russians that could have built relations with Europeans and others and did not because of the war,” Georgieva stated.
“So, on the whole, Russia is coming crippled,” she concluded.
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