EUROPE/GERMANY - Welcoming refugees and displaced persons implies “ that we address the other as a person and prevents us from approaching him as a problem or as a source of work”: Archbishop Marchetto addresses the Migration Commission of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference

Cologne (Agenzia Fides) - “Refugees are always in the heart of the Church” and “what the Church undertakes in favor of refugees is an integral part of its mission”: these were the words pronounced by Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, in a meeting with the Migration Commission of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, held in Cologne (Germany) November 27-28. The Archbishop said that “still at the dawn of the Third Millennium, welcome is a fundamental characteristic of pastoral ministry among refugees and IDPs. It guarantees that we address the other as a person and eventually as a brother/sister in the faith and prevents us from approaching him/her as a problem or as a source of work. Welcome is not so much a task but rather a way of living and of sharing. Offering hospitality grows out of an effort to be faithful to God, to hear His voice in the Scriptures and in those around us.”
After demonstrating the competence of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, in a general vision, Archbishop Marchetto present a comprehensive vision of the Instruction “Erga migrantes caritas Christi,” published 4 years ago. Looking towards the future, to the upcoming VI World Congress of Pastoral Ministry for Migrants and Refugees scheduled for November 2009, he provided a brief sketch of a new document on pastoral ministry for refugees, which will be published next year. “Assistance, therefore takes into consideration both the material and the spiritual needs of the individual and this confirms the pastoral nature of this ministry of ours. Moreover, just as any person needs a family for his or her proper growth and development, so refugees too must not be deprived of such kindred. For this reason the Church has always called for the reunification of families whose separation is caused by the flight of one of its members.”
If the Church, especially the local diocese, has the responsibility of offering welcome, solidarity, and assistance to refugees, at the same time it should see the need “to build an awareness that the refugee situation has to change with the efforts of all those who are in the position to do something to make a difference in this respect. Such a dramatic situation cannot and should not last forever.”
In his address, Archbishop Marchetto also mentioned the “human and Christian dignity” of refugees, displaced persons, and those subject to trafficking, “which is based on the conviction that we are all created in the image of God,” and thus, “people are more important than things, and the measure of the value of every institution is whether or not it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.” If a person in their own country cannot enjoy a decently lived life, the Archbishop said, “has the right, under given circumstances, to move elsewhere.[20] Each human person in fact has an essential and priceless value, a dignity which should not be threatened. The Magisterium has likewise always denounced social and economic imbalances that are, for the most part, the cause of migration, the dangers of an uncontrolled globalization in which migrants are more the victims than the protagonists of their migration.”
Reflecting on several aspects of pastoral work with “forced” migrants, Archbishop Marchetto said that these people should be offered “hope, courage, love and creativity” to help them rebuild their lives. The priority “must clearly be given to a concerted effort to provide specific moral and spiritual support for these people. In this, the local Christian community must be of great support. Moreover, it is necessary to put in place conditions which enable people to pick up the thread of normal life and start living independently, giving them the possibility to take care of themselves and their families. The rights to which refugees are entitled should be honored. What is more, the root causes which force people to flee need to be addressed. This is stressed by some Post-Synodical Apostolic Exhortations.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 28/11/2008)