Year of Mercy Pilgrimage on the Refugee Crisis | CAFOD

We have seen the face of Jesus in the face of every refugee

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we are called to contemplate God’s abundant love and to share compassion with our global family.

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“We have seen the face of Jesus in the face of every refugee.” (Archbishop Nikolaos Printezis, Lesbos, Greece

In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis invites us all to make a pilgrimage, to mark “an extraordinary moment of grace and spiritual renewal”. (Misericordiae Vultus)
The idea of pilgrimage is especially powerful in the light of the current migration crisis. More people than ever before in human history are now on forced journeys far from home.
 
This pilgrimage is a way for us to show solidarity with all those fleeing war, poverty and persecution in our world. Along the way, we reflect, “Who is my neighbour?”

Stage 1: Forced out by war
Amina is living in a displaced people’s camp in Darfur. “I was sleeping when I heard our village being attacked. I didn’t know who was shooting at us or why, their faces were covered. First they came on camels and horses, then they came in heavy vehicles, and then they came on foot. There was so much screaming, people running, and fire everywhere. I was so afraid I just ran. I didn’t even put my shoes on.”

Reader 2: Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia;
Reader 3: South Sudan, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo;
Reader 4: Central African Republic, Myanmar, Eritrea, Iraq.
 
Pope Francis tells us: “They are men and women like us…seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war.” (19 April, 2015)
 
God of mercy,
pour out your peace upon us,
so that nation will no longer lift sword against nation,
nor learn to make war. Amen. (Is. 2:4)

Stage 2: Forced out by poverty and climate change

We pray for a more equal distribution of the goods of creation. We pray for a sense of sacred responsibility to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
 
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Amen.
(Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, A prayer for our earth)

Stage 3: Forced out by persecution
Stage 4: The journey
Stage 5: Lost family
Stage 6: Welcome - or rejection
We think of the words of St Paul: “Remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)
In your compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us... cleanse us from our sins and create in us a pure heart, a new spirit. May we be the beating heart and the accompanying feet of the Church that opens her arms and sustains. (From Pope Francis’s Ciudad Juarez homily, Mexico, 17 February 2016)
Stage 7: Cross of Compassion, Door or Mercy

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CAFOD works in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping people to tackle the poverty and injustice they face. We work wherever the need is greatest, with people of all faiths and none.