Pope sends money for migrants on Poland-Belarus border — Pope Francis looks on at the end of his private audience with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Buedenbender at the end of a private audience at the Vatican, on October 9, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Andreas SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images)

Pope Francis has pledged 100,000 euros ($114,000) to help migrants blocked on the border between Poland and Belarus, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

The money includes support for the Catholic charity Caritas Poland “to deal with the migration emergency on the border between the two countries”, it said.

Since last summer, thousands of migrants — most of them from the Middle East, including war-torn Syria — have crossed or attempted to cross the Polish frontier from Belarus and enter the European Union.

The pope has made defending migrants a priority of his papacy, and has repeatedly called on EU leaders to be more welcoming to those arriving at its borders.