Luanda, 30 September, 2025 / 5:34 pm (ACI Africa).
A member of the Network for the Protection of Migrants and Refugees in Angola has appealed to the people Christians to show hospitality to and be in solidarity with those forced to flee their respective homelands.
In his homily during the celebration of the Jubilee for Migrants and Refugees as part of the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Fr. Juan Pablo Gomez called on the Church and society to embrace migrants and refugees as “a true divine blessing” and “missionaries of hope.”
“We cannot live a life of privilege and luxury while forgetting the little ones, the migrants and refugees who knock at our doors with eyes filled with hope,” Fr. Gomez said during the September 28 Eucharistic celebration that was held at the Shrine of St. Anthony Kifangondo in Angola’s Catholic Diocese of Caxito.
Representing Archbishop Zeferino Zeca Martins, President of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants (CEPAMI), Fr. Gomez reminded the people of God that “the Church must be an open house, a visible sign of welcome and solidarity, because no one chooses to be a migrant or a refugee of their own will, but out of necessity, out of fear, and in search of a dignified life.”
The Argentinian-born member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) emphasized that “when we close the door of our hearts to the poor, to migrants, we close the door to God. To ignore the poor is to ignore God, because He disguises Himself as the poor to put us to the test.”
