On the final day of his apostolic journey to Malta, Pope Francis delivered an address to migrants at the John XXIII Peace Lab Center for Migrants in Hal Far.

“You reminded us that those forced to leave their country leave with a dream in their hearts: the dream of freedom and democracy,” the Pope said in response to a migrant’s comments. “You gave voice to the stifled plea of those millions of migrants whose fundamental rights are violated, sadly at times with the complicity of the competent authorities.”

“You are not statistics but flesh and blood people with faces and dreams, dreams that are sometimes dashed,” Pope Francis continued. “Let us respond to the challenge of migrants and refugees with kindness and humanity.”