HOLIDAY HOPE

Pope Francis Defends Immigrants In Christmas Message

He said that faith demands foreigners be welcomed.

During his Christmas homily, Pope Francis defended immigrants and said that faith dictates that foreigners should be welcomed. "By decree of the Emperor, Mary and Joseph found themselves forced to set out," Francis said at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. "They had to leave their people, their home and their land, and to undertake a journey in order to be registered in the census. This was no comfortable or easy journey for a young couple about to have a child: they had to leave their land. At heart, they were full of hope and expectation because of the child about to be born; yet their steps were weighed down by the uncertainties and dangers that attend those who have to leave their home behind." He also called for a "new social imagination," one in which "none have to feel that there is no room for them on this earth."