Vatican brings more Syrian refugees ahead of World Refugee Day

The Vatican brought in another batch of Syrian refugees last week, ahead of World Refugee Day to heed Pope Francis' call of standing with refugees.

According to the Catholic Herald, the Holy See security personnel flew from Athens with nine Syrian refugees, including three children and two Christians. The refugees are among those who were living in the refugee camp of Kara Tepe on the Greek island of Lesbos where thousands of refugees arrived by sea on flimsy boats.

A couple of months ago, Pope Francis made a symbolic gesture by taking in 12 Syrian refugees to the Vatican after his visit to the Moria refugee center in Lesbos.

Pope Francis said during his visit, as reported by Al Jazeera, "May we ... recognise that together, as one human family, we are all migrants."

The world watched as refugees embarked on the perilous journey at the Mediterranean Sea just to find safety from their war-torn countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

"We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity," said the pope.

A day before World Refugee Day on Monday, June 20, Francis released a statement to join with the United Nations campaign #WithRefugees.

He referred to the refugees as just "like everyone else," only the war stripped them of everything they used to have.

"Their stories and their faces call on us to renew our commitment for building peace through justice," said Francis.

On World Refugee Day, the United Nations Refugee Agency released the Global Trends report painting a bleak picture where the number of people affected and displaced by war reached a record 65.3 million by the end of 2015. Syria contributed to the most number of refugees as well as internally displaced people.

In addition to standing with the refugees, the pope urged everyone "to meet them, to welcome them, to listen to them, to become with them builders of peace, according to God's will."