A Message by Pope Francis, entitled The Church without frontiers, Mother to all, to mark today’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, emphasises the Church’s mission to open her arms to welcome all people, without distinction or limits, in order to proclaim that “God is love”.

“The Church without frontiers, Mother to all, spreads throughout the world a culture of acceptance and solidarity in which no one is seen as useless, out of place or disposable. When living out this motherhood effectively, the Christian community nourishes, guides and indicates the way, accompanying everyone with patience and drawing close to them through prayer and works of mercy,” writes the Pope.

Francis recognises that today this takes on a particular significance. “In an age of such vast movements of migration, large numbers of people are leaving their homelands, with a suitcase full of fears and desires, to undertake a hopeful and dangerous trip in search of more humane living conditions,” he says. “Often, however, such migration gives rise to suspicion and hostility, even in ecclesial communities, prior to any knowledge of the migrants’ lives or their stories of persecution and destitution. In such cases, suspicion and prejudice conflict with the biblical commandment to welcome with respect and solidarity the stranger in need.”

The message calls on all Christians to recognise Jesus Christ in migrants and refugees and welcome them with “respect and solidarity” while avoiding “suspicion and prejudice”. The Pope warns against what he describes as “the weakness of our nature” because of which “we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length.”

He also says: “The courage born of faith, hope and love enables us to reduce the distances that separate us from human misery. Jesus Christ is always waiting to be recognised in migrants and refugees, in displaced people and in exiles, and through them he calls us to share our resources and, occasionally, to give up something of our acquired riches”.

The message adds, however, that migration is on such a scale that only systematic and active cooperation between countries and international organisations is capable of regulating and managing such migration effectively. This is because migration affects everyone, not only because of the extent of the phenomenon but also because of the social, economic, political, cultural and religious problems it raises, and the dramatic challenges it poses to individual nations and the international community.

The Holy Father considers it necessary to respond to the globalisation of migration with the globalisation of charity and cooperation, in such a way as to make the conditions of migrants more humane. At the same time, greater efforts are needed to guarantee the easing of conditions, often brought about by war or famine, which compel whole populations to leave their native countries.

“Solidarity with migrants and refugees,” writes Pope Francis, “must be accompanied by the courage and creativity necessary to develop, on a world-wide scale, a more just and equitable financial and economic order, as well as an increasing commitment to peace – the indispensable requirement for all authentic progress.”

Charles Buttigieg

 

Kummissjoni Emigranti