In a private audience with 15 refugees and friends and staff of Jesuit Refugee Service to commemorate the 35th anniversary of JRS on November 14, Pope Francis emphasised the importance of education for refugee children and youth as a means to build peace and foster the development of more resilient and cohesive societies.
The former Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Pedro Arrupe SJ, founded JRS in 1980 in response to the then-unprecedented humanitarian crisis of refugees fleeing Vietnam and Cambodia. Today the world is in the grip of another crisis, with more than 60 million people displaced from their homes.
Pope Francis has long urged Catholics to welcome refugees, saying the world is currently suffering from a “globalisation of indifference,” ignoring those who cry out for mercy. On November 14, as a precursor to the Holy Year of Mercy to launch on December 8, the Pope formally recognised and pledged support for the JRS Global Education Initiative, a drive to increase the number of people served by JRS’ educational programmes to 100,000 additional refugees by the year 2020.
“Your initiative of ‘Global Education’, with its motto ‘Mercy in Motion’, will help you reach many other students who urgently need an education which can keep them safe,” the Pope said. “To give a child a seat at school is the finest gift you can give. All [JRS’] programmes have this ultimate aim: to help refugees grow in self-confidence, to realise their highest inherent potential and be able to defend their rights as individuals and communities.”
Refugees face a variety of barriers trying to access education, from overcrowding in schools to xenophobia in host communities. Their fundamental right to education is often lost. Among refugee children globally, only 36 percent go to secondary school and less than one percent have the opportunity to pursue a higher education.
JRS works in 45 countries, across all faiths and nationalities, to serve the most vulnerable in difficult-to-reach areas. For 35 years, it has provided quality education as a tool for people to better fulfil their own potential and fully contribute to the growth, strength and stability of their communities.
As it marked 35 years of service, JRS reaffirmed its commitment to its mission and the vision of Fr Arrupe to accompany, serve and advocate for refugees worldwide.
Pope Francis commended the diversity with JRS saying, “the decision to be present in areas of greatest need, in conflict and post-conflict zones, has brought you international recognition for your closeness to people and your ability to learn from this how better to serve… you accept men and women of different religious beliefs who share your mission.”
“[Schools] are places of sharing together with children of other cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds… places in which children can once more feel ‘normal’ and where parents can be happy to send them.”
Fr Thomas Smolich SJ, JRS International Director reiterated, “more and more in whatever we do, we see ourselves helping people live as children of God, respecting the many religious traditions of the refugees we serve.”
At the audience, Pope Francis was presented with a photobook of drawings by Syrian children from diverse backgrounds in Lebanon, showing their lives before and after entering into educational programmes in JRS centres. He was also given an exercise book with the drawings featured in the cover, the first in a line of exercise books which will be sold across northern Europe to help support refugee education for children and youth.
Fr Kenneth Gavin SJ, JRS Assistant International Director, delivered to the Pope a decorative bottle filled with drawings and messages calling for peace in South Sudan. The gift is part of the “Message in a Bottle” project organized by 14 boys in the JRS Amani protection centre, which provides a safe haven for unaccompanied boys, in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya.
Finally, Fr Endashaw Debrework SJ, Regional Director of JRS Eastern Africa, gave the booklet of testimonies from 11 refugees served by JRS across Eastern Africa. The booklet is part of a campaign launched by JRS Eastern Africa called Pontifex, Hear Us, in which refugees call on the Pope to show mercy and hear them, as he prepares his journey to the region on November 25. [Jesuit Refugee Service]
Read Pope Francis’ address to Jesuit Refugee Service here.
Photo caption: A refugee from Iran meets Pope Francis at the audience with JRS on November 14. He came as a part of the group of refugees and staff representing Centro Astalli/JRS Italy. (Photo by L’Osservatore Romano)