“Migrants, the duty to be welcoming”

“Illegal migrants from Ukraine amount to approximately two million”, said Fr Waldemar Cislo, head of the Polish chapter of the organization “Aid to the Church in need”, which helps refugees in cooperation with Caritas. “Only in the Warsaw region there are at least 40 thousand”, he added – interviewed by Anna T. Kowalewska for SIR Europe – pointing out that the integration of Ukrainians refugees is “less problematic than that of exiles fleeing from conflict areas in the Middle East. “Until recently, Poland was a country of emigrants and now for the first time ever it faces the situation of having to welcome immigrants and refugees. “However, our Country is not interesting for them from the economic point of view,” notes Fr Cislo, because “both wages and state aid are significantly lower compared to Germany or the UK”. According to the Brussels agreements, Poland should welcome two thousand refugees from the Middle East. How many have arrived so far? “Several hundreds have already arrived. But to date the Interior Ministry hasn’t set up specific working groups on the reception of migrants. On the other hand, the Church with her experience can help face the problem of migrants’ social inclusion. We must uproot the prejudice whereby migrants are seen as terrorists; this perception is also fuelled by messages conveyed to the public opinion through the media, which portray Yazidi women raped or sold as slaves, Christians forced to flee from Mosul, children ruthlessly slaughtered. Refugees deserve to be helped. They are people running for their lives. I believe that the Church can play a great educational role by showing that migrants are not always ‘bad people.’ We have the duty to teach others that not all Muslims are terrorists and that many people at risk of death don’t want to have anything to do with aggressive Islam”. How does the Day of Solidarity with Persecuted Churches celebrated in Poland since 2009 relate to this mission? “We have three goals: prayer, information and material help. In every parish church we pray and collect funds. Before then, also through the parishes, our task is to inform and make sure that all parishioners are made aware of the suffering of other people. The Day that will be celebrated in November will focus on the tragedy in Syria, with the visit of the Patriarch of the Melchites Laham of Antioch: we want to be near all those experiencing situations of grave difficulty. In the past, the Polish population funded a refugee camp in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan thanks to nationwide fundraising. However, our solidarity must also be understood as an accompaniment. We try to show Christians in war zones that they are important to us. Both in Iraq and in Egypt they told us how important it is for them to know that someone prays and cares for them thousands of kilometers away. Another aspect is global awareness over the fate of Christians in the world to realize that we are the most persecuted religious group. To this regard the appeals of Pope Francis are of great importance as his voice is also strongly felt by the secular media and by non-believers alike”. What is the best way to help Christians in the Middle East? “A genocide is under way in Mosul and in Syria. As Christians we have the duty to help those who are victims of such persecutions. But the Church in Poland is convinced that we should help them in their home countries especially. This was also the request of Patriarch Sako during his visit. Everything must be done to ensure Christian presence in these lands. Christianity has a very long tradition, with a cultural heritage of enormous importance. When we visited Baghdad in February with Monsignor Stanislaw Gadecki, the President of Polish Bishops, Patriarch Sako underlined the value of material aid but strongly stressed the meaning of the physical presence of Monsignor Gadeki, testifying to the fraternal closeness of the Church in Iraq”. Could Poland accept higher numbers of refugees from North Africa? “Systemic solutions are lacking at European level, I believe that Mrs. Merkel was right when she said that Europe is unable to welcome all the refugees arriving from North Africa. We should be aware of this. The majority of a population of 20 million Syrians would like to emigrate. There also are tens of thousands of Iraqis who want to leave their Country. We should be honest enough to answer the question of whether Europe can receive all of these people. If the answer is yes, then we should open our borders and help everyone. But perhaps our duty is to ensure that all these people no longer need to flee to save their lives”.