Pope Francis highlights importance of education for
migrants and refugees
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday addressed members of the International
Federation of Catholic Universities at
the conclusion of their conference entitled, "Refugees and Migrants
in a Globalized World: Responsibilities and Responses of Universities".
Addressing the International Conference participants on
Saturday in the Vatican the Pope, congratulating them on their work, also
pointed out the importance of their contribution in three areas:
research, teaching and social promotion in order, he said, to bring about
“the construction of a more just and humane world.”
Studying migration
Reflecting on the theme of their conference "Refugees
and Migrants in a Globalized World: Responsibilities and Responses of
Universities", the Holy Father spoke about the need “to do further studies
into the root causes of forced migration with the aim of identifying viable
solutions…” He also added, that it was equally important to reflect on the
negative, sometimes discriminatory, and xenophobic reactions that
migrants face in countries of ancient Christian traditions and look also to
creating more awareness of this issue.
Promoting education initiatives for refugees
Pope Francis underlined the contributions that migrants and
refugees can make to the societies that welcome them and expressed the hope
that Catholic universities would develop programmes that “promote refugee
education at various levels, both through the provision of distance courses for
those living in camps and reception centres, and through the granting of
scholarships that allow for their relocation.”
During his address, the Pope invited Catholic universities
to educate their students, some of whom, he said, would be political leaders of
the future, entrepreneurs and artists of culture, to study carefully the
migratory phenomenon, in a justice, and global co-responsibility perspective.
With regard to the complex world of migration, said Pope
Francis, the Migration and Refugee Section of the Dicastery for
Integrated Human Development has suggested "20 Action
Points" as a contribution to the process that will lead to the adoption by
the international community of two Global Pacts, one on migrants
and one on refugees in the second half of 2018.
In this and in other areas, he concluded, universities can
play their part as privileged actors including the social field, “such as in
incentives for student volunteering in programs of assistance to refugees,
asylum seekers and newly arrived migrants.”
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