Jesuit Refugee Service/USA joins the world in mourning the death of Pope Francis. Throughout the 12 years of his papacy, his leadership rooted the Catholic Church in mercy, compassion, and concern for the poor and marginalized. His spirit lives on in JRS’ work accompanying refugees and other forcibly displaced people so they may heal, learn, and determine their own futures.  

“We find special consolation in the Easter promise of eternal life for all those who, like Francis, loved and followed and labored with Jesus,” said JRS/USA President Kelly Ryan. “Pope Francis was passionate for migrants and refugees. Our work drew strength from his compassion and witness. Pope Francis will continue to inspire our work of accompaniment, service, and advocacy and we will continue to respond to his exhortation from Lampedusa against indifference.”

 In an early, defining moment of his papacy, Pope Francis traveled to the Italian island of Lampedusa to pray for refugees and migrants lost at sea, setting the tone for his next 12 years. “We have lost a sense of brotherly responsibility,” the Holy Father said there, noting that the world has “forgotten how to cry” for migrant lives lost. At the other end of his papacy, Pope Francis’ final apostolic journey was to Indonesia, where he met with JRS representatives and spoke with migrants and refugees from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, and Sri Lanka. 

“In such uncertain times that leave many people in extremely fragile situations, we have become reassured and receive direction by Pope Francis’s testimony: peace can only be built on the recognition of each other’s dignity as human beings, without any further condition,” says Br. Michael Schöpf, International Director of JRS. “This is the only thing that guarantees a future for us, contrary to the narratives that are built on domination, destruction or exclusion.” 

Before his passing, the Holy Father reaffirmed the Church’s responsibility to migrants and warned against mass deportations and xenophobic rhetoric.  

“With charity and clarity, we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all,” he wrote in a letter to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

As Catholics globally grieve and preparations begin for a conclave to select a new pope, JRS/USA urges all to honor Pope Francis by remembering these words from his message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees last year: “The encounter with the migrant, as with every brother and sister in need, is also an encounter with Christ.”