VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis is urging people to work together to stop crimes against migrants, including the 71 who perished in a smuggler's truck on the main Budapest-Vienna highway.
Francis on Sunday invited faithful in St. Peter's Square in Rome to pray silently with him for migrants who die "on their terrible journeys." He also prayed that God would "help us to co-operate effectively to impede these crimes, which offend the entire human family." Francis noted Vienna's cardinal was in the square.
Four men are being investigated by Hungarian authorities in the human trafficking case.
With Christians in Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere fleeing persecution among the huge numbers of migrants seeking safety, the pope implored the international community to "do something to put an end to the violence and abuses" of power.
