The Japan Times - Migrants mourn pope who fought for their rights

From South America to northern Mexico, migrants joined in mourning the death of the Argentine pope at the age of 88.

They expressed gratitude for Francis's work denouncing what he called the "human tragedy" of migration and the anti-immigrant policies of US President Donald Trump.

"He prayed a lot for us migrants," Yulieth Cuellar, a 28-year-old Colombian, told AFP at a church soup kitchen in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, calling Francis a "great pope."

His prayers "touched us to the core," added Cuellar, one of thousands of migrants left stranded in Mexico due to Trump's anti-immigration crackdown.

It was in Ciudad Juarez in 2016 that Francis climbed a ramp facing the Rio Grande river that separates the city and El Paso, Texas, laid flowers under a black cross and blessed crowds of migrants.

The first Latin American pontiff was eager to see the border barrier with his own eyes, Jose Guadalupe Torres, bishop of Ciudad Juarez, recalled.

When he saw it, he said: "I have seen the promised land where neither milk nor honey flows," Torres said during a mass in honor of Francis.

In one of the many tragedies that mark what the pontiff called a "humanitarian crisis," 40 people died when a fire broke out at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez in March 2023.

- 'Wonderful person' -

Thousands of miles away, in a shelter in Honduras, 35-year-old Venezuelan Ericxon Serrano remembered Pope Francis, the son of Italian migrants, as a "wonderful person."

The pontiff had asked Trump to "stop the harassment of migrants," said Serrano, who was returning to Caracas with his wife and two young children having abandoned hope of entering the United States.

Francis's defense of migrant rights saw him clash with Trump, including when the Republican first ran for president in 2016 with a promise to build a wall to seal off Mexico.

"Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," Francis said.

In a letter to US bishops in February, the pontiff called Trump's deportation plans a "calamity" and pleaded for "the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized."

His support gave hope to migrants like Marisela Guerrero, a 45-year-old Venezuelan who moved to Chile a few months ago.

"His words encouraged all of us who left our countries," she said.

Priests and others involved in migrant support programs also remembered Pope Francis with fondness and respect.

He was a "living saint," says Cristina Coronado, head of the food kitchen in Ciudad Juarez, who said that Francis restored her confidence in the Church.

"It's very sad that this angel who defended migrants has passed away," said Father Francisco Calvillo, who ran a migrant shelter in the border city at the time of the pontiff's visit.

Calvillo hopes Francis will now ask God to "send us a pope, more bishops, more priests, more lay people who are sensitive to this reality" of migration.

H.Hayashi--JT