Pope Francis champions refugees and migrants | National Catholic Reporter

Pope Francis champions refugees and migrants | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: To some extent, Francis standing up for refugees is not news.  Of course he is and he takes the Church with him.  Any priest who sees things differently needs to seek the non-clerical life and his bishop has a disciplinary issue (or is one himself).  Of course, the latest exhortation and visit shows that this Pope is putting less stock on authoritative degrees and more on helping people in need, including those of us who are divorcing.  As for Europe, this crisis is too big for any one member of the community and until the EU has a real president rather than a rotating presidency and real continental taxes and debt, I would not expect much from it. Neither does Francis, which is why he, the Greek Metropolitan and the Ecumenical Patriarch asked the world for help.  Of course, the world also lacks an effective presidency to deal with this issue - or the world-wide representative government to raise the funds necessary, or to simply intervene and stop the war.  That is the problem with the Pax Americana, it has the option of sitting out such crises.