Pope Francis gives his speech in the Synod hall on the occasion of the closing ceremony of the IV Scholas Occurrentes World Educational Congress, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (The Associated Press)
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has decried the "inhuman" conditions facing migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and has encouraged frontier communities to not judge people by stereotypes but rather welcome migrants and work to end discrimination.
Francis made the appeal in a letter to a Jesuit priest who helps organize Catholic teens in Nogales, Arizona, to support the Kino Border Initiative, which advocates a more humane solution to migration.
He wrote: "These young people — who have come to learn how to strive against the propagation of stereotypes, from people who only see in immigration a source of illegality, social conflict and violence — can contribute much to show the world a church without borders, as mother of all."
Francis will likely raise immigration issues when he visits the U.S. in September.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
