When Pope Francis visits Panama this week, he arrives not only as the first Latin American pontiff to visit Central America but as perhaps the world’s most prominent advocate for migrants at a time when migration has become a pressing political issue in the region and elsewhere. The Argentine-born son of Italian immigrants has long held the issue dear to his heart and has signaled that it will be a central theme during the trip, which comes as the latest caravan of Central Americans is wending its way toward the US-Mexico frontier and President Donald Trump’s promised border wall has led to the longest government shutdown in the country’s history. Francis’ emphasis on fundamental Christian teaching about welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry has been a breath of sustenance for those involved in efforts to aid migrants in Central America and Mexico, where Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople have taken the lead on attending to migrants amid what is often a vacuum of inaction and indifference by governments — or even outright hostility. “It has been so hard, even within the church itself, to convince (people) that helping migrants is precisely part of the work of the church,” said Lidia Mara Souza, coordinator of the group Pastoral of Human Mobility in Honduras. Francis’ emphasis on fundamental Christian teaching about welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry has been a breath of sustenance “But the pope has supported us tremendously, and I think now he comes to help us,” added Souza, a nun of the Scalabrinian order, which aids migrants as its vocation and is present along the length of the migratory route. “He must remind the politicians who declare themselves to be Christians to be that for real.” The migratory trail north from Mexico and the violent Northern Triangle region of Central America is fraught with peril. Criminal gangs control much of the route and prey upon migrants, who are often stigmatized and face discrimination as they travel distances as long as 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) with little but dreams in their backpacks. All along the way, they rely on a network of support in the form of Catholic-run shelters where they can find a place to sleep, be safe from the cartels and get a meal or advice. Scalabrinians were among the first to start ministering to migrants in this part of the world, in the mid-1980s opening a shelter in Tijuana, across from San Diego. At the time, migration was largely an ignored phenomenon, said Bishop Raul Vera of Saltillo in northern Mexico, one of the first Mexicans to get involved in the cause. Little by little, Vera said, the network of safe houses tied to the church sprang up over the following decades to reach the current number of over 80 in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Published in Daily Times, January 22nd 2019.