World Day of Migrants and Refugees is Sept. 27

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Migrants and refugees are pictured on a large bronze statue in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sept. 29, 2019. The Vatican celebration of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2020 will be celebrated Sept. 27, the Vatican said, and the pope's choice for a theme is: "Forced like Jesus Christ to flee."

The 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated on Sunday, Sept. 27. The title for this year is “Like Jesus Christ, Forced to Flee.”

Pope Francis urges people  this year to discover more deeply the reality of internally displaced people, stated Reverend Monsignor J. Brian Bransfield, general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an email to all of the bishops in the organization.

The subthemes of Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, including “To know in order to understand” and “To be close in order to serve,” are delved into through multimedia materials. In one video, the Holy Father explores the sub-theme “To listen in order to be reconciled.” The video “offers the real-life testimony of an internally displaced person that explains how teamwork and mutual acceptance can create a brighter future and peaceful coexistence between people of different religions,” according to Bishop Bransfield.

“In the video, the Holy Father urges us to an attentive and humble listening through which we can be truly reconciled,” Bishop Bransfield added.

The video and other material at https://migrants-refugees.va/ can be freely downloaded, published, used and shared.

Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration will celebrate a Mass to commemorate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees at St. John Neumann’s Parish on Sept.27, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. The mass will be live-streamed via St. John Neumanns’ YouTube channel.