Building together” “

Appeals to solidarity among nations, to responsibility, to respect for the dignity of the migrant as a human person: these are some of the positions expressed by the Churches of the European countries bordering the Mediterranean on the occasion of the 92nd World Day of the Migrant and the Refugee celebrated throughout the world on Sunday 15 January. Starting from this year, the Holy See has asked Churches throughout the world to celebrate it on the same day, i.e. the third Sunday in January. Hitherto it was celebrated at the national level at different times. SPAIN, KEEPING STEP WITH NEEDS. There are 3.5 million regular immigrants in Spain, approximately 8.4% of the total population. Spain, like other European countries, has been transformed in recent years from a country of emigration (at the present time roughly one million Spaniards live abroad) to one of immigration. This requires a “differentiated” response on the part of the Church and the “creation and improvement of ecclesial services” and civil structures. So write the Spanish bishops – through the episcopal Commission for migration – in a message with the title “Let’s build together: the quarter, the city, the world”. In Spain, they point out, “there is no province without the presence of immigrants”, the majority of them coming from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, with a percentage ranging from 1.7% to 30% of the population. The Spanish Church urges the faithful “to respond in an appropriate manner to the requests of immigrants and to keep step with their needs” and not to consider them “merely cheap manpower, but citizens with equal dignity and with the same rights and duties”. The bishops exhort the faithful to welcome Catholics in the various communities and to conduct an interconfessional and interfaith dialogue with them, especially with Muslims, “however difficult that it”. The bishops also ask that the pastoral ministry be translated into “services geared to social and charitable action” and into “civil structures and services for the integration of immigrants and their families”. FRANCE, RECOGNIZING THE FOREIGNER AS BROTHER “Each person is a sacred story”: that’s the theme chosen by the Church of France for World Migrant’s Day. “Regarding the life of migrants in a humane way and in faith – says the national Service for the pastoral care of migrants in a letter issued to explain the choice of the theme – means paying attention to the injuries suffered by these men, women and children: right of asylum hampered by obstructive procedures; family bonds broken by the difficulties placed in the way of the reunification of families, by arrests and by expulsion from the frontiers; plans for cracking down on irregular immigration that engender fear” and reinforce “the black market and clandestine work”. A specific dossier on the plight of migrants recalls recent news stories, including the clashes at Ceuta and Mililla in northern Morocco, the urban rioting in the suburbs of the big French cities, and the government’s intention to reform the law on immigration to reinforce and toughen up the controls and procedures for obtaining residence permits. “In response to these questions – says the dossier – Christians have the duty to give political responses, but first and foremost they are called by the Gospel to recognize the foreigner as a brother”. ITALY, APPEAL TO RESPONSIBILITY. “A day of celebration that calls everyone to responsibility”: that’s how Monsignor Lino Bortolo Belotti, president of the episcopal Commission for migration (CEMI) and of the Migrantes Foundation, explained the contents of the Day, which in Italy had as its theme: “Migrations, sign of the times: heavens and new earth the Lord shall give”. Each year the Italian Church chooses a different Region for the main celebrations. This year the chosen Region was Calabria. There are over 2,800,000 regular immigrants in Italy. Msgr. Belotti also spoke of the “shadows” that darken the world of migration, denouncing the traffic of human beings, the trafficking of women, often underage, and the tramp steamers that “are turning the Mediterranean into a cemetery of unburied bodies”. MALTA, “MORE SOLIDARITY BETWEEN NATIONS”. The Church of Malta, on the occasion of Migrant’s Day, especially appealed for “solidarity between nations” to tackle the challenge of migration. For this small island in the Mediterranean is often characterized “by huge influxes of migrants who disembark there before departing for their final objective: Europe”. The spokesman of the Bishops’ Conference of Malta, Charles Buttigieg, described this situation in a briefing to SIR: “Unfortunately, in Malta too – explains Buttigieg – a small part of the population tries to exploit the influx of irregular immigrants for their own political ends, which at times smack of racism”. In any case, he says, “the Maltese in general are doing all they can to assist the immigrants with dignity and in accordance with Christian values”.