BREAKING NEWS

Pope urges Europe to 'open hearts and doors' to suffering migrants

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis appealed to nations on Wednesday to "open their hearts and open their doors" to migrants, saying those waiting at closed European borders in the cold and rain were made to feel like exiles abandoned by God.
Over 1.1 million migrants fleeing war and failed states flowed into the European Union in 2015 and the influx has continued, prompting countries straddling the main migration corridor through the Balkans to the wealthy north of the EU to seal their borders, trapping tens of thousands in Greece.
"How many of our brothers these days are living through a real and dramatic situation of exile, far from their homelands. In their eyes they still have the ruins of their homes," Pope Francis told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.