Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Valencia (Agenzia Fides) – The call for “laws that encourage the integration of immigrants, which may promote their professional development and thus may afford them decent accommodation where the whole family can live,” was put forward by the Archbishop Carlos Osorio of Valencia (Spain), in his “Letter to an immigrant to contemplate together”, as part of the cycle of letters he writes every week to diverse categories of people. In the letter published to celebrate the “Day of Migration” in the Archdiocese of Valencia, the Archbishop notes that, “the situation of being a foreigner makes all the social needs more difficult,” and you must “overcome the nationalistic attitudes of all” and calls us “to address all manifestations of racism and xenophobia.” According to Archbishop Osoro, “only a genuine evangelical love may be strong enough to pass from tolerance to true respect,” like “only the saving grace of Jesus Christ may help us overcome the daily challenge to transform selfishness into generosity, fear to acceptance and rejection to solidarity.”
The phenomenon of emigration “always poses new challenges” and, in the case of Christians, “should make us more sensitive and remember that the Lord himself was an immigrant,” writes the Archbishop. The note sent by the Archdiocese of Valencia to Fides says that it must be remembered that among immigrants “are often the most vulnerable”. This is a reference to “illegal immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons due to violent conflicts around the world and the victims of the terrible crime of human trafficking”. That is why Archbishop Osorio argues that migrants, “whoever they are, have a family in the Catholic community”.
On Sunday afternoon, 30 January, hundreds of immigrants participated in the Mass presided over by the Auxiliary Bishop of Valencia, Bishop Enrique Benavent, on the Day of Migration, organised by the Program of Social Service and Caritas of the Archdiocese of Valencia. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 31/01/2011)
