Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - Forty theologians and about the same number of other participants including cardinals, bishops, priests and lay Catholics will attend a Conference on Shrines and Pilgrimages in Bangalore (India), promoted by the CBCI, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, with the help of the CBCI National Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre. On 12 March Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martinopresident of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples will give a paper on the value of pilgrimage, an important expression for all religious traditions. The Cardinal will announce that the next Asian Meeting on Pastoral Care of Pilgrimages and Shrines will be held in Nagasaki, Japan, in October and encourage the formation of national and continental Associations of pilgrimage directors and rectors of shrines. Besides presiding the opening Mass and giving the homily Cardinal Martino will meet seminarians at St Peter’s Pontifical Institute Bangalore and speak about his mission as Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations Organisation.
After India Cardinal Martino will go to Taipei, for the International Conference on “Service and Assistance to Asian Migrants”, 15 to 18 March. The important meeting organised by the local Bishops’ Commission for Pastoral of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, with the support of the public authorities will be attended by ecclesial representatives from Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Mongolia. The objectives of the meeting include: sharing of information and experience on the migratory phenomenon; proposals and suggestions for adequate assistance and protection of rights of migrant workers in Taiwan; establish official contact for international networking in the migratory field; coordination with local government authorities for more effective measures to assist migrants; draft trans-national plans for cooperation in the pastoral care of migrants. In this context Cardinal Martino will speak on the theme “welcoming and assisting the foreigner in the light of Erga migrantes caritas Christi” (Instruction 2004) . (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2007; Righe 26; Parole 338)
