Pope Francis at the weekend held an "emotional" meeting with the Syrian Christian refugee family being hosted by the Vatican's Sant'Anna parish, he told reporters on his flight from Rome to Cuba on Sunday.
"There are wars, refugees who are escaping in this wave of migration away from wars...they are fleeing from death and seeking life," Pope Francis told reporters on the plane, quoted by Vatican Radio.
"You could see the pain of all of this in their faces," he said.
Francis met the Melkite Greek-Catholic couple and their two children, who come from Damascus on Saturday before heading to the airport for his flight to Cuba for a two-day official visit, his first to the Communist-ruled island.
"I think that today the world is thirsting for peace," he said, before calling on those on the plane to help work for peace.
"A small bridge, then another, then another make a great bridge for peace," Pope Francis said.
The Syrian Catholic family arrived in Rome on 6 September, the same day Francis appealed to all European parishes to open their doors to refugees.
The family has asked for asylum and is being accommodated in a Vatican apartment near St Peter's Square, the Vatican stated.
The Vatican declined to give any information on accommodating a second family by the other Vatican parish, St Peter's Basilica "until the necessary arrangements have been made".
