Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – This morning saw the end of the sessions held at the Sixth World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, with the approval of the Final Document which will be made public soon. Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in his closing remarks said that the Congress was opened “on the anniversary of the Beatification of Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, that the Servant of God that John Paul II called "Father of Migrants,” and then addressed his thanks to the Holy Father Benedict XVI, for the audience granted and for having reiterated that "the Church invites the faithful to open their hearts to migrants and their families, knowing that they are not just a 'problem', but are a 'resource' to be able to exploit opportunities for the path of humanity and its genuine development. "
The Archbishop continued: "Senator Renato Giuseppe Schifani, later, taking into account ethical and cultural issues related to migration, said that in the migrant and refugee we are challenged to see 'not a wanderer, but a companion, to whom we owe a sincere word of truth '. In fact, we added, in our work of the Congress, special attention to our extensive and articulated concern for migrants and refugees, thus intending to emphasize the primary importance of the centrality of the human person, protecting their dignity, regardless of their legal status – legal or illegal - and promoting his integral development. The person, oriented to transcendent values, is worth more than all the structures and institutions ".
"So, we can not remain silent in the face of those who speculate on the lives of migrants and refugees, especially those who promote the deplorable trafficking in human persons, trafficking and abduction of those who are in conditions of vulnerability. Archbishop Veglio ended by saying: “This our analysis lends its voice, with courage and determination, to those who have no chance of being heard, so that states and governments, civil, social and educational institutions, in close collaboration with Christian communities and with all men and women of good will, may be sensitive to the phenomena of migration and refugees, urging the adoption and ratification of international laws that protect and promote the human person created in God's image and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 12/11/2009)
