Pope Francis sent a message to the Catholic Committee on International Migration, which is holding a plenary session, urging the Church to “serve all” and “act quickly to build a peaceful future”, especially to receive, protect and care for those displaced people.
(Vatican News Network)Pope Francis delivers a message to all participants on the occasion of the plenary session of the Catholic Committee on International Migration. In the message, the Pope praised the council’s efforts over the past 70 years, especially “to help churches everywhere to meet the challenges related to the mass displacement of people caused by the conflict in Ukraine”. The Pope noted that the conflict in Ukraine had created the largest wave of European refugees since the Second World War.
“There are millions of asylum seekers, refugees and displaced people in other parts of the world who urgently need to be received, protected and cared for,” the message said. This emergency urges churches to serve and listen, and to commit to “working hard for a peaceful future.”
In his message, the Pope recalled the founding purpose of the Migration Council: at the time, Pope Pius XII asked that the Council should establish a network with bishops’ conferences around the world to provide pastoral services to migrants and refugees. Pope Francis then reminded that in the new Pontifical Charter, “Go and Preach the Gospel”, this committee is placed under the purview of the Holy See’s Ministry for the Promotion of Integral Human Development “in order to guarantee its nature and mission”.
Finally, the Pope encouraged “the development and implementation of pastoral projects for immigrants and the professional training of pastoral personnel in the field of immigrants; these pastoral personnel always serve the local Churches according to their abilities”. This is the committee’s “internal” mandate. In addition, the Pope pointed out that the Catholic Committee on International Migration also has an “external” mandate, that is, it must provide targeted programmes and conduct advocacy activities that address global challenges. Another “foreign” task is to make “the problem of migration widely known in the international community so that it can promote respect for human rights and human dignity in accordance with the guidelines of the Church’s social teachings”.
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