VATICAN CITY, JAN. 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is exhorting young migrants to work with their peers to build a more just and fraternal society.

The Pope said this today after he prayed the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Today is the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which is focusing this year on the plight of young migrants.

“There are numerous young people who are forced for various reasons to live far from their families and countries,” the Holy Father said. “Girls and minors are especially at risk. Some children and adolescents are born and grow up in ‘refugee camps’: They too have a right to a future!”

The Pontiff expressed his gratitude for those who “commit themselves to help young migrants, their families and the integration of their work and study.”

And he invited ecclesial communities to “welcome with sympathy the young and the very young with their parents, trying to understand their stories and helping them to become assimilated.”

Benedict XVI’s final exhortation was directed to the young migrants themselves.

“Dear young migrants! Commit yourselves together with your contemporaries to building a more just and fraternal society, fulfilling your duties, respecting the laws and not allowing yourselves to be caught up in violence,” he exhorted. “I entrust all of you to Mary, Mother of all humanity.”