VATICAN CITY (UCAN) Delegates from 12 Asian countries arrive in Rome this week for the World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, which begins on Nov. 9.
A nun works with migrant children from Myanmar at a Jesuit Refugee Service
centre in Ranong, Thailand (File photo)
The meeting will focus on the effects of globalization on migration and seek concrete guidelines on the Church's response to the issue.
Among the more than 300 delegates from around the world will be 28 from the Church in China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City is among the 14 keynote speakers and will speak on pastoral responses to urbanization and internal migrations, a big issue in many growing Asian economies.
According to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which is organizing this congress, there are at least 200 million migrants in the world today, 11 million refugees, 20 million in forced labor and five to six million stateless people.
"Globalization has created a new labor market and consequently pushed many to emigrate," Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, the new president of the pontifical council told a press conference Nov. 3.
Many have also been forced to flee from poverty, misery, natural catastrophes, local and international conflicts, and political or religious persecution, he added.
Globalization may have opened markets to international intervention but "it has not torn down the walls of national boundaries to allow the free circulation of people, with due respect for the sovereignty of states."
The issue "raises a truly ethical question: the search for a new international economic order for a more equitable distribution of the goods of the earth," the archbishop said.
There is a risk that the whole discussion on globalization is seen "almost exclusively with reference to the economic-financial sphere, characterized by the amount of international aid and the degree of trade liberalization."
"We know, as Christians, that life's core is fundamentally spiritual and that the challenge is how to promote and safeguard every human person," he said.
For the Church to care effectively for migrants, there must be effective "cooperation between the migrants' Churches of origin, transit and arrival," the archbishop noted.
An ecumenical response was also essential, he added, stressing the need for cooperation among the different Christian Churches in this regard as well as between Catholics and followers of other religions.
This is the sixth congress since Pope Paul VI established the pontifical council in 1970.
In 2004, this Vatican office, then headed by the Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, published a document on the Church's response toward the pastoral needs of migrants.
The document, titled "The love of Christ towards migrants," had called for the setting up of Church offices to deal with migration but not all bishops' conferences had responded, said Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the pontifical council.
Governments are also taking a more restrictive approach to migrants, he noted. Lay Christians had also sometimes ignored the instructions laid out in the document.
Archbishop Marchetto said the upcoming congress will evaluate the changes in the world that have taken place since the document was first issued.
A nun works with migrant children from Myanmar at a Jesuit Refugee Service
centre in Ranong, Thailand (File photo)
The meeting will focus on the effects of globalization on migration and seek concrete guidelines on the Church's response to the issue.
Among the more than 300 delegates from around the world will be 28 from the Church in China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City is among the 14 keynote speakers and will speak on pastoral responses to urbanization and internal migrations, a big issue in many growing Asian economies.
According to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which is organizing this congress, there are at least 200 million migrants in the world today, 11 million refugees, 20 million in forced labor and five to six million stateless people.
"Globalization has created a new labor market and consequently pushed many to emigrate," Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, the new president of the pontifical council told a press conference Nov. 3.
Many have also been forced to flee from poverty, misery, natural catastrophes, local and international conflicts, and political or religious persecution, he added.
Globalization may have opened markets to international intervention but "it has not torn down the walls of national boundaries to allow the free circulation of people, with due respect for the sovereignty of states."
The issue "raises a truly ethical question: the search for a new international economic order for a more equitable distribution of the goods of the earth," the archbishop said.
There is a risk that the whole discussion on globalization is seen "almost exclusively with reference to the economic-financial sphere, characterized by the amount of international aid and the degree of trade liberalization."
"We know, as Christians, that life's core is fundamentally spiritual and that the challenge is how to promote and safeguard every human person," he said.
For the Church to care effectively for migrants, there must be effective "cooperation between the migrants' Churches of origin, transit and arrival," the archbishop noted.
An ecumenical response was also essential, he added, stressing the need for cooperation among the different Christian Churches in this regard as well as between Catholics and followers of other religions.
This is the sixth congress since Pope Paul VI established the pontifical council in 1970.
In 2004, this Vatican office, then headed by the Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, published a document on the Church's response toward the pastoral needs of migrants.
The document, titled "The love of Christ towards migrants," had called for the setting up of Church offices to deal with migration but not all bishops' conferences had responded, said Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the pontifical council.
Governments are also taking a more restrictive approach to migrants, he noted. Lay Christians had also sometimes ignored the instructions laid out in the document.
Archbishop Marchetto said the upcoming congress will evaluate the changes in the world that have taken place since the document was first issued.
No comments:
Post a Comment