Pope Francis is urging all religious communities in Europe to take action in the ongoing refugee crisis and welcome refugee families into their sanctuaries.
The Guardian reports that the Vatican will be taking in two families as the Pope deeply encourages all Catholics to not only inspire patience and courage, but rather offer significant acts of help by sheltering these Syrian refugees.
"May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe, take in one family," said the Pope in front of thousands of Roman Catholics in St. Peter's Square.
The Pope's continuing concern for refugees is heightened by the recent arrival of thousands of Syrian migrants in Austria and Germany, after a struggling journey from Hungary. While people in Germany and other parts of Europe welcomed the migrants with food and clothing donations, the Pope calls for an important act of service among the faithfuls.
"Before the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing death in conflict and hunger and are on a journey of hope, the gospel calls us to be close to the smallest and to those who have been abandonded," Francis said.
The Roman Cathoilic leader added that sheltering the victims of the on-going was among Muslims in Syria is a form of a "concrete act of preparation" for the incoming Jubilee Year of Mercy that will begin in December.
Since the migration of thousands of refugees in the southern shores of Italy in 2013, the Pope has been outspoken about his strong concern on the growing crisis. As debates about welcoming these illegal migrants within the EU remain unconcluded, Pope Francis criticized the upsetting issue as what he called the "globalization of indifference."
The European commission is expected to propose a quota system for EU members to agree on in hosting these migrants. Currently, there is an estimated 160,000 refugees seeking for shelter in Europe.
