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Walk with Migrants, Workers, and the Excluded

November 17, 2025

(PeopleImages / Shutterstock.com)

From the Office for Social Ministry

“The Church supports your just struggles for land, housing and work. Like my predecessor Francis, I believe that just ways begin from the ground up, from the periphery toward the center.”—Pope Leo XIV, Address to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, 10/23/2025

As this Jubilee Year nears its close, Pope Leo XIV has offered a powerful reminder of where the Gospel calls us to stand, on the periphery with the marginalized. Speaking to grassroots leaders from around the world, the Holy Father emphasized that the world’s “new things” must never be defined merely by technology, profit, or the priorities of the powerful, but instead by the lived reality of the excluded. “The truly new is seen from the margins, from the faces of those who suffer exclusion.” These are the workers, migrants, mothers, farm laborers, young people, and kupuna whose daily lives reveal both the wounds and the beauty of our shared humanity.

Pope Leo believes the most meaningful “new things” today are the persistent cries for “land, housing, and work”—which he boldly identifies as “sacred”human rights. He emphasized that those on the peripheries “cry out, not out of desperation but out of desire.” Their resilience makes them “social poets,” imagining new forms of solidarity in a world that often overlooks them. Their voices and creativity show the Church where the Holy Spirit is alive and moving.

Central to our Holy Father’s vision is the conviction that all Christian engagement be “animated by love.” Without it, justice becomes cold, activism becomes harsh, and structures become impersonal. With love, however, our vision changes. We begin to see migrants not as strangers but as Christ himself. We are reminded that people are not problems to be solved but neighbors to be loved. Love grounds the ministries that serve the most vulnerable: community gardens, shelters, cooperatives, immigrant support centers, addiction recovery programs, and re-entry pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals.

This same Gospel clarity and insistence on human dignity resonated through the November 2025 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In their Special Pastoral Message on Immigration, the bishops acknowledged the compassion already being offered daily in parishes, shelters, and catholic programs across the country and urged all people of goodwill to continue and expand such efforts. The conference voted almost unanimously to call for a deeper accompaniment of immigrant families. They decried the “climate of fear and anxiety” affecting those living in legal limbo, and spoke firmly against “indiscriminate mass deportation,” dehumanizing rhetoric, and violence directed at immigrants or law enforcement.

Their message reflects the same perspective Pope Leo XIV articulated: nations have the right to protect their borders, but never at the expense of human dignity. As the Pope noted, too many governments adopt inhumane measures that treat migrants as disposable. He reminded us that Christianity “refers to the God who is love…who calls us to live as brothers and sisters.” The bishops echoed this truth, insisting that genuine security can never contradict the Gospel mandate to welcome, shelter, and protect.

Pope Leo XIV also lifted up the broader forces that deepen global inequality. Despite unprecedented technological growth, millions are being pushed further outward. Climate change continues to displace communities. Nations rich in essential minerals are exploited for economic gain while local populations remain impoverished. In this context, the Pope warned that globalization without ethics “increases poverty and inequality.” But when guided by conscience and moral responsibility, globalization can become a vehicle for redistributing opportunity and restoring dignity.

As we prepare to enter the holiday season, the Pope’s message serves as a timely compass. The periphery is a place where Emmanuel—God with us—continues to reveal the “new things” of the Kingdom. This holy season invites us to carry our gratitude outward, encountering Christ on the margins. We are called to steward the land, extend shelter, and work together for a world where all belong and where love stands at the heart of justice.

The USCCB’s Commission on Migration new national initiative—You Are Not Alone—points in the same direction, focusing on practical pathways of accompaniment: emergency support, pastoral care, clear communication on Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness. It is one concrete way the U.S. Church hopes to embody Pope Leo’s vision of a Gospel-rooted response to the challenges of migration and exclusion.

Pope Leo XIV concluded with a compelling blessing: “The Church and I want to be close to you on this journey…we implore the Father of all mercy to protect you and fill you with his inexhaustible love.” The Pope and USCCB remind us that we walk under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose maternal care draws us ever closer to the heart of Christ. For the full text of Pope Leo XIV message to grassroot leaders of popular movements, please go to www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/october/documents/20251023-movimenti-popolari.html

During the holidays of thanksgiving and gifting, let us remember to gratefully welcome the stranger, support immigrant families, uplift workers, and defend the dignity of all who feel unseen. This is living faith as disciples—witnessing to Jesus by responding to His call in the Gospel of Matthew where He tells us whatever we do for the least among us, we do for Him. May we continue to walk together on the path of loving justice and compassionate accompaniment. Mahalo.