Pope’s audience at the International Forum on “Migration and Peace”: “Integration and welcoming are a moral duty,” “One group of individuals cannot control half of the world’s resources”.
To welcome: against that attitude of Rejection that makes us see our neighbor not as a brother or sister, but as someone to be bent to our will”. To protected: all the brothers and sisters forced to leave their place by “traffickers of human flesh” who profit off others’ misfortune. To promote “integral human development”, which is “undeniable right of every human being.” Finally, to integrate: recognizing the other’s cultural richness and avoid the insidious and dangerous risk of “creating ghettos”.
I believe that conjugating these four verbs, in the first person singular and in the first person plural, is today a responsibility, a duty we have towards our brothers and sisters who, for various reasons, have been forced to leave their homeland:
For Francis it is a “duty” of justice, of civility and of solidarity conjugate these four verbs, in the first person singular and in the first person plural, in order to deal with today’s migration phenomenon. A phenomenon that is upsetting our times and that involves nearly every part of the world. The Pope makes it clear to the participants, received this morning in the Clementine Hall, during the sixth edition of the International Forum on “Migration and Peace”. The event, organized by the new Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development in collaboration with the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, starts today in Rome on the theme “Integration and development: from reaction to action”.
In a rich speech, summa of his teaching on the migration issue, Bergoglio frames the delicate problem that is hardly a new phenomenon in human history, but which today is becoming increasingly dramatic, since, in most cases, “ it is forced, caused by conflict, natural disasters, persecution, climate change, violence, extreme poverty and inhumane living conditions”
A complex scenario, in front of which the Pope expressed “particular concern for the forced nature of many contemporary migratory movements, which increases the challenges presented to the political community, to civil society and to the Church, and which amplifies the urgency for a coordinated and effective response to these challenges”
According to the Pontiff, this shared response is articulated by four verbs: “to welcome, protect, promote and to integrate.” Francesco urges “to overcome indifference and to counter fears with a generous approach of welcoming those who knock at our doors.” He then asks, “a change of attitude” in contrast to the “attitude of rejection ’that’ is rooted in selfishness and amplified by populist demagoguery,” “ and that makes us see our neighbor not as a brother or sister to be accepted, but as unworthy of our attention, a rival, or someone to be bent to our will””. He then adds, “For those who flee conflicts and terrible persecutions, often trapped within the grip of criminal organizations who have no scruples, we need to open accessible and secure humanitarian channels.
He makes it clear that what we need is “A responsible and dignified welcome of our brothers and sisters begins by offering them decent and appropriate shelter.” The enormous gathering together of persons seeking asylum and of refugees has not produced positive results. Instead these gatherings have created new situations of vulnerability and hardship” He observes, “ More widespread programs of welcome, already initiated in different places, seem to favor a personal encounter and allow for greater quality of service and increased guarantees of success”
Francis then mentions his predecessor Benedict XVI who warned of the dangers of exploitation, abuse and violence to which migrants are subjected. Defending the “inalienable rights” of migrant workers and among these particularly men and women in irregular situations”, refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking, as well as “ensuring their fundamental freedoms and respecting their dignity are duties from which no one can be exempted”
Pope Francis continues: “Protecting these brothers and sisters is a moral imperative which translates into adopting juridical instruments, both international and national, that must be clear and relevant; implementing just and far reaching political choices; prioritizing constructive processes, which perhaps are slower, over immediate results of consensus; implementing timely and humane programs in the fight against “the trafficking of human flesh” which profits off others’ misfortune; coordinating the efforts of all actors, among which” assures the Pope, “there will always be the Church.”
But protection is not enough, “ What is required is the promotion of an integral human development of migrants, exiles and refugees” “ ensuring the necessary conditions for its exercise, both in the individual and social context, providing fair access to fundamental goods for all people and offering the possibility of choice and growth. “ And for this “a coordinated and farsighted effort” is needed, one which envisages all the parties involved: from the political community to civil society, from international organizations to religious institutions.
“The human promotion of migrants and their families begins with their communities of origin. That is where such promotion should be guaranteed, joined to the right of being able to emigrate, as well as the right to not be constrained to emigrate namely the right to find in one’s own homeland the conditions necessary for living a dignified life.”, the Bishop of Rome remarked. For that purpose, he encourages the implementation of programs of international cooperation, free from partisan interests, and programs of transnational development, which involve migrants as active protagonists.
Finally, integration, which is neither assimilation nor incorporation, is a two-way process, rooted essentially in the joint recognition of the other’s cultural richness: it is not the superimposing of one culture over another, nor mutual isolation, with the insidious and dangerous risk of creating ghettoes.” In this process of integration, the Pope urges us not to neglect “the family dimension” and therefore reiterates the need for “of policies directed at favoring and benefiting the reunion of families”
For Francis these are a “duty.” First of all “a duty of justice,” because “We can no longer sustain unacceptable economic inequality, which prevents us from applying the principle of the universal destination of the earth’s goods.” “One group of individuals cannot control half of the world’s resources,” Bergoglio adds. “We cannot allow for persons and entire peoples to have a right only to gather the remaining crumbs. Nor can we be indifferent or think ourselves dispensed from the moral imperatives which flow from a joint responsibility to care for the planet”
It is then a “duty of civility”: “Our commitment to migrants, exiles and refugees is an application of those principles and values of welcome and fraternity that constitute a common patrimony of humanity and wisdom which we draw from” remarks the Bishop of Rome. “Today more than ever, it is necessary to affirm the centrality of the human person, without allowing immediate and ancillary circumstances, or even the necessary fulfilment of bureaucratic and administrative requirements, to obscure this essential dignity.”
It is, finally, a “duty of solidarity” born from the capacity to understand the needs of our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty and to take responsibility for these needs. “ A “sacred value” present in all religious traditions. “ In the face of tragedies which take the lives of so many migrants and refugees – conflicts, persecutions, forms of abuse, violence, death – expressions of empathy and compassion cannot help but spontaneously well-up. “Where is your brother?”: this question which God asks of man since his origins, involves us, especially today with regard to our brothers and sisters who are migrating: “This is not a question directed to others; it is a question directed to me, to you, to each of us” Pope Francis says.
He concludes by calling attention to the most “vulnerable group” children and young people forced to live far from their homeland and who are separated from their loved ones. “They need more than ever, Francis concludes, “protection”, “integration” and “long-term solutions.”
