The pontiff made his dramatic plea to thousands in the Vatican today as he called for action from every Catholic parish in Europe.
England, Wales and Scotland alone have 3,300 Catholic parishes - so their generosity could more than double Britain's number of Syrian refugees.
And it could help solve the headache of how to fund the families, for whom George Osborne is already diverting foreign aid cash to local councils.
The Pope said to applause in St Peter's Square: "I appeal to the parishes, the religious communities, the monasteries and sanctuaries of all Europe to ... take in one family of refugees.
"Every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe, take in one family."
And the Vatican is leading by example - with two of its parishes taking in a refugee family each in the next few days.