Pope Francis' January 2025 prayer intention
Millions of families have had to escape for their lives due to persecution, war, and violence. They frequently have nothing and are far from home.
Pope Francis draws attention to the predicament of education in war-torn regions of the world. Here, a main casualty of armed conflict is frequently education. All too frequently, we witness the horrifying scene of schools being closed or even destroyed as military forces target major urban areas. On the basis of geography, gender, and greed, education is sometimes undermined or even discontinued. To eliminate the right to education compromises the common good. Pope Francis emphasizes that education 'is necessary to build a better world'. Children who have been displaced can live in a stable and secure environment thanks to education, which also aids in rebuilding their communities and the pursuit of fulfilling lives.
Let us pray for migrants, refugees and those affected by war, that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a better world, might always be respected.
Pope Francis
Refugees have a fundamental.....
Yet
Over 50% of all refugee children do not attend school
Girl refugees do not get access to high-quality education
Higher education is difficult for refugees to access
Every child's right to an education is protected by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This right is to be maintained when children are compelled to leave their countries of origin. Education serves as a haven of safety, a source of hope, and a doorway to future opportunities amidst the uncertainty and hardship of forced relocation. However, the right to education is contravened by forced displacement worldwide; only 3% of refugees are thought to complete their university education.
UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency; strives to guarantee that children and youth who are refugees have access to quality education) Education Report 2024 – Refugee education: Five years on from the launch of the 2030 refugee education strategy says that analysis of data from 65 countries that host refugees reveals that 7.2 million refugee children are not receiving an education because of a variety of reasons, such as capacity limitations, language barriers, insecurity, and a lack of inclusive education policies. This puts young people's future prosperity at risk and prevents them from reaching their full potential.
Every educational institution is called to be a place
of welcome, protection, promotion and integration for all,
to the exclusion of none.
Promote refugee education at various levels, both through the provision of distance courses for those living in camps and reception centres, and through the granting of scholarships that allow for their relocation.
Pope Francis
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (Italian: July 15, 1850 – December 22, 1917)
Pope Francis has praised the example set by the patron saint of migrants, St. Frances Cabrini, also called Mother Cabrini. She established the Catholic religious order known as the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which provided significant assistance to Italian immigrants living in the United States.
With a strong faith in God and exceptional administrative skills, Frances played a significant role in promoting immigrant rights and established 67 organizations in 35 years, including hospitals, schools, and orphanages, to help the sick, the poor, the uneducated and the abandoned in North and South America and Europe.
This courageous sister dedicated her life to bringing the love of Christ to those who were far from homeland and family,” he said. “Her witness,” Pope Francis concluded, “helps us to take care of the brother from a far-off land, in whom Jesus is present, often suffering, rejected and humiliated.
Pope Francis
Many people look to religion for solace and direction during periods of migration and displacement, and so we join our prayers with theirs...
Let us pray
God, Almighty Father,
We are your pilgrim Church journeying towards the Kingdom of Heaven.
We live in our homeland, but as if we were foreigners.
Every foreign place is our home, yet every native land is foreign to us.
Though we live on earth, our true citizenship is in heaven.
Do not let us become possessive of the portion of the world
you have given us as a temporary home.
Help us to keep walking, together with our migrant brothers and sisters,
toward the eternal dwelling you have prepared for us.
Open our eyes and our hearts so that every encounter with those in need
becomes an encounter with Jesus, your Son and our Lord.
Amen.
Pope Francis; Rome, 2024
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