VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has decried the "inhuman" conditions facing migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and has encouraged frontier communities to not judge people by stereotypes but rather welcome migrants and work to end discrimination.
Francis made the appeal in a letter to a Jesuit priest who helps organize Catholic teens in Nogales, Arizona, to support the Kino Border Initiative, which advocates a more humane solution to migration.
He wrote: "These young people — who have come to learn how to strive against the propagation of stereotypes, from people who only see in immigration a source of illegality, social conflict and violence — can contribute much to show the world a church without borders, as mother of all."
Francis will likely raise immigration issues when he visits the U.S. in September.
Pope decries conditions for migrants on US-Mexico border
Pope Francis gives his speech in the Synod hall on the occasion of the closing ceremony of the IV Scholas Occurrentes World Educational Congress, at the Vatican. AP/Gregorio Borgia