Pope Francis: 'Refugees are just like us'

Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for solidarity with refugees as he noted that Monday marks the annual United Nations World Refugee Day.

Addressing thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square after the Angelus, the Pope recalled that the theme for this year's event is: 'We stand together #With Refugees' and with all those forced to flee their lands. Refugees, he insisted, are people like everyone else, who have been deprived by war of their homes, their jobs, their parents and their friends.

"Their stories and their faces" he said, "call on us to renew our commitment for building peace through justice". For this reason, he concluded, we want to stand together with them, "to meet them, to welcome them, to listen to them, to become with them builders of peace, according to God's will."

Source: Vatican Radio