In his annual Christmas Day address, Pope Francis focused on a message of hope and a call for kindness to migrants. “May the Son of God, come down to earth from heaven, protect and sustain all those who, due to these and other injustices, are forced to emigrate in the hope of a secure life,” the pope said Wednesday from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Francis prayed for comfort for those who are suffering and asked for Catholics to show good will and find solutions to ongoing humanitarian crises in his seventh Christmas speech, titled “Urbi et Orbi.” He also urged an end to conflicts in the Middle East, Latin America, Ukraine, and Africa, and prayed for those who are persecuted on the basis of religion. “It is injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries,” he said. “It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference.”

“May Christ bring his light to the many children suffering from war and conflicts in the Middle East and in various countries of the world,” Francis added.