Vatican City, Sep 6, 2015 / 04:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis Sunday issued a strong appeal to the entire European Church – including the Vatican – to take in migrant families as part of the lead-in to the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy.

“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing death on account of war and hunger, and who are traveling toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be 'neighbors' to the smallest and abandoned, (and) to give them a concrete hope,” the Pope said Sept. 6.