VATICAN - “The reality of migration must never be seen only as a problem, but also and above all as a great resource for humanity’s progress” Pope Benedict XVI said at the Angelus on the Day for Migrants and Refugees

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Before leading the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday 14 December, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the situation of Migrants and Refugees since it was the Day the Catholic Church dedicates to concern for Migrants and Refugees. The Pope said “We can meditate on the Holy Family of Nazareth, the icon of all families, because it reflects the image of God hidden in the heart of every human family even when weakened and disfigured by the trials of life”. Recalling that St Mark in his Gospel narrates how just after the birth of Jesus Saint Joseph was forced to flee into Egypt with the Child and his Mother, to escape persecution by King Herod: “In the plight of the Family of Nazareth we glimpse the sad condition of so many migrants, the difficulties encountered by migrant families as such: discomfort, humiliation, hardship and fragility.”
The Pope mentioned his own Message for the Day, dedicated this year to the Migrant Family, underlining the necessity to “protect migrants and their families with the help of special legislative, juridical and administrative safeguards, also network of services, counselling centres, structures of social and pastoral assistance”. Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped a “balanced management of migratory flows and human mobility in general” would soon be reached “bringing benefits to the whole human family, beginning with concrete measures to foster legal emigration and reunification of families, with special attention for women and minors”. The Holy Father said “only respect for the human dignity of all migrants on the one hand and on the other recognition on the part of the migrants of the values of the hosting society, render possible proper integration of families in social, economic and political systems of the host countries”.
Before reciting the Angelus and asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Francesca Saverio Cabrini, the patron saint of migrants, Pope Benedict XVI said ““The reality of migration must never be seen only as a problem, but also and above all as a great resource for humanity’s progress. The migrant family is a special resource, on the condition it is respected as such, not subjected to irreparable separations, and allowed to remain united or be reunited and carry out its mission as the cradle of life and first place in which the human person is loved and educated”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 15/1/2007; righe 30, parole 416)