Pope Leo XIV made an appeal this Friday to strengthen the protection of migrant and refugee children and adolescents, and called on institutions to place their rights and dignity at the center of migration policies. “Public and private institutions are obliged to place the protection and dignity of every child and adolescent at the center,” said the pontiff in his message for the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be held on September 27. The Pope emphasized that to achieve this goal it is necessary “to adopt effective legal protection instruments, promoting family reunification and avoiding the trauma of separation.”
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Under the title Even one of these little ones, Leo XIV warns in the document of the special vulnerability of minors who are forced to leave their homes due to wars, poverty, violence, natural disasters, and other emergency situations. The Pope points out that many of them lose family members, remain separated from their parents for long periods, or face migration routes under extreme conditions.
“Minors are the most vulnerable within global migration flows,” the Pontiff stresses. And he recalls: “They are concrete faces, unique stories, that appeal to our conscience. Every year, millions of children and adolescents are forced to leave their land because of wars, poverty, violence, environmental disasters, and other tragedies; and, unfortunately, their number continues to increase.” The Pope also points out that “the economic, political, and military responsibilities for this disaster are immense.”
Leo XIV maintains that the immigration debate should not be limited to managing flows and arrival figures, but should incorporate a perspective focused on the individual rights of each minor, regardless of their nationality or administrative status. “A change of perspective is urgent: the focus of the debate must shift from mere management of migration flows to the full and immediate protection of human rights, adopting a coordinated, supportive, and effective response capable of guaranteeing protection, reception, and real integration opportunities for those who migrate,” he emphasizes, recalling the speech he gave in Madrid before the deputies last June.
Leo XIV, born in the United States and also holding Peruvian nationality, after spending several years of his ecclesiastical career in Peru, calls for effective legal instruments to protect minors and sets as priorities promoting family reunification, avoiding traumatic separations, and guaranteeing fundamental rights such as life, education, and adequate conditions for their development.
“Suffering is not limited to displacement; there are very young children who have lost their parents, brothers, sisters, and friends, and who are witnesses to indescribable violence. Others, separated for long periods from their families, try to reunite with them, meanwhile living with the anguish of distance,” the Pope notes.
He also focuses on children who undertake the difficult migration journey accompanied by their parents but end up separated from them later as a result of expulsion or repatriation procedures. “There are also minors who face the journey with their parents but are exposed to extreme and traumatic conditions. Finally, we cannot forget the tragic situation of those who are separated from their parents due to repatriation,” he adds.
And he mentions other tragedies that add to this already dramatic panorama: “Deaths along migration routes, trafficking and exploitation, recruitment of minors for participation in armed conflicts, sexual violence, forced marriages, and atrocities suffered or witnessed during the journey. Their dignity is trampled in too many ways.”
He also calls for action in countries of origin on the causes that push minors to emigrate, in addition to providing protection in transit and destination countries. “It is necessary to intervene in countries of origin to eliminate the possible causes that force them to flee, as well as to offer protection and reception in transit and arrival countries. The cry of displaced minors rises today to God, just as the one heard in the book of Exodus: ‘I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their complaints against the oppressors; I know their sufferings. I have come down to deliver them,’” declares the Pontiff.
The Pope also invites “to recognize the child in their dignity, even before their condition as a migrant, and to protect their fundamental rights: to life, to education, and to a standard of living that allows them to grow and develop fully physically, mentally, spiritually, morally, and socially.”
The message also includes a call to religious communities to collaborate in creating protection networks and integration spaces for migrant minors. Leo XIV considers that these initiatives can also help combat isolation, social exclusion, and the risk of radicalization among the most vulnerable youth.
