Pope urges Italians to help migrants as right wins vote

Pope Francis urged Italians to help migrants amid a general election that brought an anti-immigration rightwing coalition into power.

Speaking at the end of an openair mass in the southern Italian city of Matera, the pope recalled that last Sunday coincided with the Catholic church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees. “Migrants are to be welcomed, accompanied, promoted and integrated,” he told the assembled faithful.

Migration was a central theme in the electoral campaign of extreme right parties.