The Vatican announced this weekend that Pope Francis, who once lobbed a thinly-veiled job at the Trump administration by saying “builders of walls sow fear” and “divide people,” has donated $500,000 to aid migrants in Mexico.
‘Men and women, often with young children, flee poverty and violence, hoping for a better future in the United States. However, the U.S. border remains closed to them.’
That’s Peter’s Pence, the Pope’s charity, explaining the rationale behind the donation. The money will be used to house and feed migrants and will be split among 27 projects in 16 Mexican dioceses and religious congregations.
Almost 75,000 migrants coming up from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the Vatican said, have been “stranded” near the Mexican border and are “unable to enter the United States, without a home or livelihood.”
The Vatican, which has been critical of governments with harsh immigration policies, added in a press release on Saturday that “Media coverage of this emergency has been decreasing and as a result, aid to migrants by the government and private individuals has also decreased.”
Earlier this month, the Pope said, “Those who build walls will become prisoners of the walls they put up. This is history.”
