Pope Francis redefined the Catholic Church’s role as a sanctuary for the uprooted, leaving an indelible legacy as the migrant’s champion in a fractured world.
Published Apr 22, 2025 | 10:09 AM ⚊ Updated Apr 22, 2025 | 10:09 AM
Pope Francis.
Synopsis: During his papacy, spanning from 2013 to 2025, Pope Francis challenged world leaders, shaping global discourse, and inspiring millions to see migrants not as threats but as brothers and sisters in need. His direct actions — visiting crisis zones, challenging leaders, and framing migration as a moral issue — set him apart as the most significant pontiff in defending migrants’ rights.
The world mourns the loss of Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who passed into eternal rest on 21 April 2025 at his Vatican residence; his frail body succumbed to a prolonged illness. Yet, his indomitable spirit endures as a beacon of hope for the displaced and marginalised.
In an era defined by unprecedented global migration — driven by conflict, poverty and climate change — Pope Francis emerged as the most vocal and proactive pontiff in defending the rights and dignity of migrants and refugees.
His papacy, spanning from 2013 to 2025, was a clarion call for compassion, challenging world leaders, shaping global discourse, and inspiring millions to see migrants not as threats but as brothers and sisters in need.
Through personal conviction, symbolic gestures, and institutional reforms, Francis redefined the Catholic Church’s role as a sanctuary for the uprooted, leaving an indelible legacy as the migrant’s champion in a fractured world.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Italian immigrant parents, Pope Francis carried the migrant’s story in his blood. His family’s journey from Italy to South America imbued him with a deep empathy for those forced to leave their homelands. This personal connection was not merely anecdotal; it shaped his worldview and theology.
Francis often spoke of migration as a human story, not a faceless policy issue. In his 2013 homily on Lampedusa, he asked, “Who among us has wept for these brothers and sisters?”—a poignant reminder of the shared humanity binding all people. His immigrant roots grounded his advocacy, making his defence of migrants authentic and unrelenting.
Pope Francis’s advocacy for migrants was marked by bold, high-profile actions that captured global attention. In July 2013, just months into his papacy, he made a historic visit to Lampedusa, Italy, a small island that had become a gateway — and often a graveyard — for African migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
There, he cast a wreath into the sea to honour the hundreds who had perished in perilous journeys, decrying the “globalisation of indifference” that allowed such tragedies to persist. This visit was not merely symbolic; it set the tone for his papacy, signalling that the plight of migrants would be a cornerstone of his mission.
In 2016, Francis took a direct stand against restrictive migration policies during a visit to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, near the US border. Responding to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal for a border wall, he declared, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”
This rebuke, delivered with pastoral clarity, framed migration as a moral issue, challenging political rhetoric that demonised migrants. His words reverberated globally, sparking debates on the ethics of border policies.
Francis’s defence extended to migrant caravans in Central America and Mexico. In 2022, as thousands trekked northward seeking safety and opportunity, he called for their humane treatment, urging governments to recognise their dignity rather than meet them with hostility.
In 2024, he escalated his rhetoric, labelling the rejection of migrants a “grave sin” during a general audience, a statement that underscored his belief that turning away the desperate violates the core of Christian teaching. These moments were not isolated; they were part of a consistent thread woven through his papacy, amplifying the voices of those society often ignored.
Beyond symbolic acts, Pope Francis embedded his advocacy for migrants into the Church’s moral and theological framework. His 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, was a landmark document that called for a “culture of encounter” and hospitality toward migrants.
He wrote, “Each migrant has a name, a face, and a story,” urging Catholics and world leaders to reject xenophobia and embrace solidarity. This encyclical was built on earlier messages, such as his 2015 Laudato Si’, which linked environmental degradation — a driver of migration — to the need for global justice.
Francis’s global travels further amplified his message. In 2016, he visited the refugee camp on Lesbos, Greece, where he met with asylum seekers fleeing war in the Middle East.
In a powerful gesture, he brought 12 Syrian refugees back to Rome on his papal plane, demonstrating that compassion requires action, not just words. In 2021, he travelled to Iraq, meeting displaced families in Mosul and advocating for their right to return and rebuild. These visits were not mere photo opportunities; they were deliberate efforts to humanise migrants and pressure governments to act justly.
Pope Francis’s willingness to engage political leaders set him apart as a defender of migrants’ rights. His dialogues with global figures, including during the 2015–2016 European refugee crisis and his 2015 address to the US Congress, centred on migrants, refugees and global conflicts.
In his congressional speech, he called for a humane response to migration, urging lawmakers to see migrants as persons, not problems. While maintaining his pastoral role, Francis did not shy away from challenging policies that dehumanised migrants, emphasising that migration is a global responsibility. By framing migrants’ rights as a moral imperative, he pushed leaders to prioritise humanity over political expediency.
Francis’s commitment to migrants extended to institutional reforms within the Catholic Church. He established the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2016, with a dedicated section for migrants and refugees, ensuring that the Church’s global network actively supported displaced persons.
Under his leadership, the Vatican funded shelters, provided legal aid, and partnered with NGOs to assist migrants worldwide. He also encouraged dioceses to open their doors, with many parishes becoming sanctuaries for refugees. These efforts institutionalised his vision, ensuring that the Church’s advocacy for migrants would endure beyond his papacy.
While other popes addressed migration, none matched Francis’s intensity and focus. Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) aided Jewish refugees during World War II but operated discreetly due to geopolitical constraints. Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) advocated for migrants in messages like Undocumented Migrants (1995), but migration was secondary to his focus on communism and global evangelisation. Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013) addressed migration in Caritas in Veritate (2009), but his approach was more theoretical than action-oriented.
Francis, by contrast, lived in an era of acute migration crises and leveraged modern media to amplify his message, making his advocacy more visible and impactful.
Pope Francis’s papacy coincided with a world grappling with millions displaced by war, poverty, and climate change. His direct actions — visiting crisis zones, challenging leaders, and framing migration as a moral issue — set him apart as the most significant pontiff in defending migrants’ rights.
His rhetoric, rooted in personal conviction and amplified by global platforms, reshaped how the world viewed migration. Even in his final years, as illness weakened his body, his spirit remained steadfast, urging humanity to build bridges, not walls.
As the world reflects on his passing, Pope Francis’s legacy endures in the hearts of the displaced he championed. His life was a testament to the Gospel’s call to welcome the stranger, and his work challenges future generations to carry forward his vision of a world where no migrant is forsaken. In a time of division, he was a shepherd who sought the lost, leaving an eternal mark as the migrant’s greatest defender.
(Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist, labour migration expert, forced labour investigator and author of Undocumented- Penguin 2021. Views are personal. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
