Jesuit Refugee Service working with children. Pope Francis praises the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in a letter to mark its 40th anniversary.
It’s been 40 years since the Jesuit Refugee Service began its mission to help the many men, women and children who seek refuge and assistance.
Christian ethos
In a letter to mark four decades of service, Pope Francis recalled its founder, the Servant of God Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ, who, he said, is an example of “this intimately Christian and Ignatian desire to care for the well-being of all those who find themselves in a state of deep despair.”
Father Aruppe, wrote the Pope, transformed his dismay at the plight of the suffering “into a deeply practical attention to their physical, psychological and spiritual well-being.”
JRS past and present
The work of JRS has taken its cue from its Christian ethos, from its beginnings with the Vietnamese boat people in the 1980s up to the present day with the coronavirus pandemic, which has shown how the entire human family is “in the same boat,” finding itself faced with unprecedented economic and social challenges, the Pope said… Read more »