ASIA/TAIWAN - 8,000 people at the first Gathering of Migrant Workers organized by the Taiwanese Catholic community

Monday, 22 September 2025 local churches migrants work mission

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Hsinchu (Agenzia Fides) - A concrete plan for the pastoral care of migrant workers and itinerant people, which responds to the urgent needs of their daily lives and expresses the gratitude of the entire Church community towards migrants and their contribution to the growth of Taiwanese society. This is one of the concrete fruits of the first Gathering for Migrant Workers and Immigrants in Taiwan, organized by the local Catholic Church on Sunday, September 21.
The gathering turned into a massive event. More than 8,000 people gathered at the Taoyuan Arena in the Diocese of Hsinchu: Archbishops and Bishops, about 400 priests, consecrated men and women, members of church communities, and thousands of migrant workers, mainly from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The Bishops of the Regional Episcopal Conference and their collaborators included this meeting as part of the Jubilee of Hope, promoting and celebrating it not as an isolated moment, but as one step in a journey aimed at documenting and reinvigorating, within the ordinary pastoral care, the tireless concern and gratitude of the local church community for the brothers and sisters who came to Taiwan in search of work.

The morning session of the meeting was marked by testimonies, messages, and brief presentations prepared by the various immigrant communities. Monsignor Erwin Balagapo, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), participated in the meeting as a delegate of the Missionary Dicastery and, during the morning, he also presented a summary of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle's message, aimed at reaffirming the Church's ever-present concern for migrants. The pastoral care of migrants—the Cardinal Pro-Prefect of the Missionary Dicastery emphasized in the message presented by Monsignor Balagapo—"is rooted in the very Word of God." In the Old Testament "the Lord Himself commanded His people to welcome and care for the stranger," in the Gospels, Christ "not only shows compassion for them, but even identifies Himself with them. To extend care to migrants is, therefore, a sacred duty, a mission that draws down blessings." And this is why migrants "are never to be regarded as a problem, but rather as persons who bear the living face of Christ." They are to be welcomed "into the life of the community," accompanied and formed so as to attain the fullness of their humanity, and—when they are Christians—to be strengthened as "authentic missionaries of the Gospel."

In the afternoon, the Eucharistic liturgy was celebrated in the Arena, presided over by the Bishop of Hsinchu, John Baptist Lee, President of the Regional Episcopal Conference, accompanied by Martin Su, Bishop of Taichung and President of the Commission for Migrants, and Monsignor Stefano Mazzotti, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the Nunciature in Taipei.
The homily was delivered by Undersecretary Balagapo, who conveyed "with profound joy" the special greetings and blessings "from the Holy Father Leo XIV, who presides over the Dicastery for Evangelization," of Cardinal Pro-Prefect Luis Antonio Tagle, and of the entire Dicastery.
In his homily, Undersecretary Balagapo drew inspiration from the readings of the day's liturgy, which "shine with God's concern for the poor," beginning with the passage from the prophet Amos and his denunciation of "those who exploit workers."
And if Christ himself "identifies with the migrant and the stranger," "every stranger who knocks at our door is an opportunity for an encounter with Jesus Christ, who identifies with the welcomed and rejected strangers of every age."

Thus, continued the Undersecretary of the Missionary Dicastery, addressing the thousands of immigrants gathered in the arena, "the Church looks at you and sees not only workers, but also missionaries. (...) You remind us that the Church herself is a pilgrim and migrant people, following Christ, who was Himself a migrant with Mary and Joseph in Egypt." This is why the pastoral care for migrants "is not an optional charity; it belongs to the heart of the Gospel. To welcome the migrant is to welcome Christ; to defend the dignity of workers is to defend the Lord himself."

After the Mass, Bishop Martin Su, on behalf of the Regional Episcopal Conference, presented the guidelines for the pastoral care plan for migrant workers and migrants in Taiwan, which Taiwanese church communities will be able to develop locally in the coming years. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 22/9/2025)