Pope Francis said Wednesday that fear of migration is "making us crazy" as he began a trip to central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump's promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north.
Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind.
Francis responded: "It is the fear that makes us crazy."
Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa said Francis' message is likely to resonate with young Central Americans who see their only future free of violence and poverty in migrating to the U.S. "young people who often fall into the hands of drug traffickers and so many other realities that our young people face."
Francis famously has called for "bridges, not walls." After celebrating Mass in 2016 on the Mexican side of the U.S. border, he denounced anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out migrants as "not Christian."
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