Download the Word version
Environmental migrants are defined by the International Organizations for Migrants as persons or groups of persons who, for reasons of sudden or progressive changes in the environment that adversely affect their lives or living conditions, are obliged to have to leave their habitual homes, or chose to do so, either temporarily or permanently and who move either within their territory or abroad.
As we come together to pray for these migrants and refugees, let us be empathetic to their experience of leaving their homelands because of extreme weather events: flooding, drought, record heat and more effects of climate change.May we find compassion for their plight, reduce our contribution to the problem of climate change and help care for those who have been forced to seek new lives in new lands.
Good and gracious God,
We ask that you provide special protection for all families, particularly those who must leave their ancestral homes because the land can no longer sustain the members of the community. Be with them in their hardships as they move in search of a better life.
Show mercy to those who travel in danger, and lead them to places of safety and peace. Comfort those who are alone and afraid because their families have been torn apart by changing weather patterns, altered landscapes and natural disasters.
Help us to remember the suffering of all migrant families and to open our hearts so that we may provide hospitality to our sisters and brothers in search of refuge. Give us the courage to welcome every stranger as Christ in our midst. We ask this in your name. Amen.
There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters point to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society if founded.
- Pope Francis, Laudato Si', #25
© 2017 The Catholic Health Association of the United States