Pope Francis and the Vatican Commit to Aiding Internally Displaced People
Pope Francis has created a migrants and refugees section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in order to lead initiatives for the millions forcibly displaced by war, natural disasters and climate change, and will preside over the section himself in a show of commitment to the cause. At the launch, the undersecretary of the section said the post COVID-19 world emerging demonstrates the contribution internally displaced people (IDP) have made in the fight against the virus. The Vatican released a new volume, informed by the annual displacement studies of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council, devoted to protecting and integrating internally displaced people, and called on NGOs and dioceses to advocate for the protection of IDPs. The Church highlighted the plight of global IDPs from Syria to the United States, identifying those displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and warned of the impending dangers climate change poses to further displacement and denigration of the human rights of IDPs, adding that the Church sees climate displacement as a new and growing category it will be examining further in the days to come. (Religious News Service)