Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
City (Agenzia Fides) - More than 130 delegates, including Bishops, priests, religious women and lay people, all engaged in pastoral work with migrants, refugees and displaced persons, the apostolate of the Sea, and tourism, participated in the First Congress of Human Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean (see Fides 30/04/2014), held from May 12 to 16 in Panama.
In his opening speech, His Exc. Mgr. Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, S.J., Archbishop of Huancayo (Peru) and President of the Department of Justice and Solidarity of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), had invited all "to renew the commitment, fruit of reflection and dialogue, so that the Church lives its mission in the vulnerable suburbs in society, such as the reality of migrants, itinerant people, the people of the sea and tourism, refugees and displaced persons. Thus, we fulfill the expressed desire of Pope Francis to be a poor Church and for the poor".
The final document, sent to Fides Agency, summarizes what participants have warned about "the true Way of the Cross, of which many people in the movement and pastoral workers have been witnesses and victims of aggression, separation from family groups, abuse, persecution and torture, often paying with threats to their families, with blood and life itself". Another contribution of the meeting was the proof of the concept that "in national and international terms, the context of immigration policies is still the ideology of national security and an economic model that excludes". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 22/05/2014)
