Pope: Migrants as witnesses proclaiming the Gospel

“Today we celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Millions of people are involved in the phenomenon of migration, but they are not numbers! They are men and women, children, the young and the old who are searching for a place where they can live in peace. “These are the words the Holy Father Benedict XVI reflected on during the Angelus on Sunday, January 15.

“The phenomenon of migration today is also a providential opportunity for the proclamation of the Gospel in the contemporary world. Men and women from various regions of the earth who have not yet encountered Jesus Christ or know him only partially, ask to be received in countries with an ancient Christian tradition. It is necessary to find adequate ways for them to meet and to become acquainted with Jesus Christ and to experience the invaluable gift of salvation which, for everyone, is a source of “life in abundance” (cf. Jn 10:10); migrants themselves have a special role in this regard because they in turn can become “heralds of God’s word and witnesses to the Risen Jesus, the hope of the world” (Apostolic ExhortationVerbum Domini, 105).”