Pope sends money for migrants on Poland-Belarus border

By : AFP

Date: 18 January 2022 1:54pm WAT

Pope Francis greets attendees as he arrives for a meeting with the poor at the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli, near Assisi, on November 12, 2021. - Pope Francis is travelling to the town of Assisi on November 12 for a private meeting with the poor, in preparation for the World Day of the Poor. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Pope Francis gestures towards a toddler during the weekly general audience on January 12, 2022 at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP)

Pope Francis has pledged 100,000 euros ($114,000) to help migrants blocked on the border between Poland and Belarus, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

The money includes support for the Catholic charity Caritas Poland “to deal with the migration emergency on the border between the two countries”, it said.

Since last summer, thousands of migrants — most of them from the Middle East, including war-torn Syria — have crossed or attempted to cross the Polish frontier from Belarus and enter the European Union.

The pope has made defending migrants a priority of his papacy, and has repeatedly called on EU leaders to be more welcoming to those arriving at its borders.

The Vatican said the pope had also pledged 100,000 euros for relief efforts in the Philippines, following the typhoon in December.