VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Sunday scolded countries that produce weapons for wars fought elsewhere and then refuse to take in refugees fleeing the very same conflicts.

The 82-year-old Argen­tine pope, whose parents were of Italian immigrant stock, has made the defence of migrants and refugees a plank of his pontificate and he has often clashed over immigration policy with US President Donald Trump and populist anti-immigrant politicians in Europe.

Francis has criticised the arms trade repeatedly and his sermon for 40,000 people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday linked the issues of war and migration as the Roman Catholic Church marked its World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

“Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees generated by these conflicts,” Francis said.

Sunday’s Mass was atten­ded by many immigrants and groups helping them. It was also marked by a mix of African, Spanish and Portuguese music as well as traditional Church music.

Pope Francis said the world is becoming increasingly “elitist and cruel towards the excluded”, adding that it is the duty of Christians to look after all those left behind in a “throwaway culture” taking root in society.

“This means being a neighbour to all those who are mistreated and abandoned on the streets of our world, soothing their wounds and bringing them to the nearest shelter, where their needs can be met,” he said.

People could not remain indifferent to “the bleak isolation, contempt and discrimination experienced by those who do not belong to ‘our’ group”, the pope said.

“We cannot remain insensitive, our hearts dead, before the misery of so many innocent people. We must not fail to weep. We must not fail to respond,” he said.

He then inaugurated a large statue in St Peter’s Square, showing dozens of migrants and refugees from different faiths and different periods of history.

“This statue depicts a group of migrants from various cultures and over different historic periods. I wanted this artistic work here in St Peter’s Square to remind everyone of the evangelical challenge of hospitality,” he said.

During the Mass, a multiethnic chorus sang and the incense burned came from a refugee camp in southern Ethiopia, where refugees are rekindling a 600-year-old tradition of collecting incense.

The Vatican said the incense “reminds us that refugees can also thrive, not just survive.”

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019