BISHOP'S CONFERENcE
Cardinal Reinhard Marx illustrated the figures from the Church’s commitment in favour of refugees and migrants at the end of the plenary assembly of German bishops (DBK): in 2017, refugee aid from the 27 German dioceses and the rescue agencies of the Church increased by about 20 million euros with respect to the previous year. On the whole, they were 147 million euros: 69.4 million for initiatives in Germany, and 77.6 million for aid projects in crisis regions. The report by DBK says the number of requests for baptism catechesis of refugees is going up: in 2017, 507 baptism requests were presented in 22 dioceses, with 262 baptisms. The number of refugee aid volunteers went down from about 100 thousand in 2016 to about 63 thousand in 2017. That decline was probably due to the significant decrease in the number of arrivals in Germany. A stricter asylum policy and growing resentment toward volunteers caused discouragement and resignation, following the analysis made by bishops. Moreover, Marx spoke about the problem of communication in Germany: German bishops are asking for a stronger and stronger public service, making adequate use of communication opportunities. “Public broadcasting stations are particularly responsible because they have a specific mandate”, said the Cardinal, who asked all either public or private media to work together to encourage both quality journalism and different cultures.
