Following is an interview with Monsignor Francesco Cavina, bishop of Carpi, on immigration, family, and little Alfie’s case:
“The international community is called upon to work together for progress” and to promote security “in all countries”, in particular in those from which people flee. Immigrants must be welcomed, and their right to remain in their own state in dignity” and peace must also be protected. This is affirmed by Monsignor Francesco Cavina, Bishop of Carpi, who in an interview with Vatican Insider also speaks of the family, and the Alfie case.
What do you think about the story of the ship Aquarius and the migrants’ question in Italy?
“Migrants are not numbers, but people and as such they must be rescued, welcomed and those fleeing wars and violence must be helped to integrate into the new cultural context. The phenomenon of migrations, however, as the Pope also recalled, requires the attention “of the entire international community” as it “exceeds the possibilities and means of many States”. Therefore, as the Cardinal Secretary of State asked in the margins of the Vatican-Mexico conversation on international migration: “The important thing is that there be a common response to this problem, that Italy is not left alone to face the problem of immigration”. It is also necessary to look at the problem from the point of view of people’s rights not to emigrate. Every person, in other words, has the primary right to remain in their own country in safety and dignity. It is therefore the task of the international community to work together for progress and to promote peace in all countries. Many African bishops, in countries where there are conditions of extreme poverty or war, denounce an impoverishment of society because of the indiscriminate departure of people”.
You were a protagonist of the Church’s commitment to little Alfie: what signs left that story?
“As I have stated many times the story of little Alfie has shaken public opinion and led many people, believers and not, to ask themselves about the value of life, the meaning of suffering and who is responsible for establishing who should live and who should die. Many have risen up to reject the “objectifying” vision of human life because they have understood that if respect for the person is not there, “the throw away culture” will become the criterion for establishing who has or does not have the right to live. I would like to recall what a young man wrote: “Life is a mystery, not a chess game to be won at all costs according to human logic. 16 years ago, my brother Emmanuel died and went up to heaven, today Alfie. Their short life had more sense than mine, I am 22 years old, indeed, it had a deep meaning just to give one to mine. My salvation comes through Christ, who did not descend from the Cross, by my brother, who according to the doctors was not to be born and yet lived with pride two months, by Alfie, who was not to breathe alone, and on the contrary, did so with tenacity””.
On Family, what are your concerns and hopes?
“In his apostolic exhortation, the Pope stated: “As Christians, we can hardly stop advocating marriage simply to avoid countering contemporary sensibilities, or out of a desire to be fashionable or a sense of helplessness in the face of human and moral failings. We would be depriving the world of values that we can and must offer.” (AL 35). The family is at the origin of social and civic life. On the contrary, it is civil society in its roots and miniatures and it is the regenerating force in terms of values and generations. The serious crisis of birth shows how necessary it is to recover the centrality of the family, as it does not exist only for itself, but exists in view of the city. Marriage is therefore the supreme good, the true heritage of a nation, the regenerating force in times of crisis, including the economic crisis, the highest expression of the human being, in living in relationship. If the family shatters, people become more lonely, more fragile, more malleable, because they no longer have that unity capable of bearing witness to a story; they scatter, their heart is fragmentary. Ultimately, each person finds in the family their most congenial “habitat” in which they can grow to the best of themselves. It therefore becomes essential, as the Holy Father has recently done, to clarify and reaffirm the truth about the family, about the stable relationship between husband and wife, about parenting and about human life”.
