The Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees for the Bishops' Conference has been discussing Pope Francis' message for the forthcoming World Day of Migrants and Refugees that will be celebrated on Sunday, 26 September.
Bishop Paul McAleenan uses some of the Holy Father's words to give some context to the theme of the day: 'Towards an ever wider 'we''.
These poignant words can be found displayed prominently at one of our most well-known coastal borders:
"On the promenade in Dover there's a plaque which bears some words of Pope Francis. 'Every migrant has a name, a face, a story'. That is our starting point; and that is our conclusion.
"In our outreach to migrants and refugees, we're not dealing with numbers or statistics, we're dealing with people who have endured so many trials - who live day-to-day. They have known pain, persecution, war, suffering, hunger, poverty - on land and on sea.
"The message of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees is an appeal to replace that suffering with a genuine respect for the dignity of migrants and refugees by going to their aid and lifting them up so that the "I" will be replaced by the "we". And the hope is that that way will become ever wider."
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