Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

RELIGION

Pope in Bulgaria tells refugees they bear cross of humanity

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • 26bde605-
    Image 1 of 2

    Pope Francis looks at children singing for him during his visit to a refugee center on the outskirts of Sofia, Bulgaria, Monday, May 6, 2019. Pope Francis is visiting Bulgaria, the European Union's poorest country and one that taken a hard line against migrants, a stance that conflicts with the pontiff's view that reaching out to vulnerable people is a moral imperative. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

  • e3573fcf-
    Image 2 of 2

    Pope Francis receives a drawing from a girl during his visit to a refugee center on the outskirts of Sofia, Bulgaria, Monday, May 6, 2019. Pope Francis is visiting Bulgaria, the European Union's poorest country and one that taken a hard line against migrants, a stance that conflicts with the pontiff's view that reaching out to vulnerable people is a moral imperative. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

SOFIA, Bulgaria – Pope Francis has met with refugees in Bulgaria's showcase refugee center and told them they are bearing the "cross of humanity," after he urged the migrant-skeptic government to not close its eyes to their suffering during a visit to the Balkan nation.

Refugee children from Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere sang for Francis on Monday at the Vrazhdebna center, located in a refurbished school on the outskirts of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.

Bulgaria's center-right government has been criticized by human rights groups and the European Council for its treatment of asylum-seekers, particularly unaccompanied minors.

Francis is on the second-day of a three-day visit to the Balkans. Later Monday, he is to celebrate Mass in the Catholic stronghold of Rakovsky and celebrate First Communion for more than 200 children.