Pope Francis: ‘It’s not just
about migrants, but about all of us’
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| A mural at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos |
In his message for the 2019 World Day of Migrants and
Refugees, Pope Francis says fear and a throw-away culture lead to the rejection
and exclusion of people seeking a better life.
By Devin Watkins
Pope Francis released his message on Monday for the 105th
World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be commemorated on September 29th.
As the Vatican’s Migrants and Refugees Section announced in
March, the theme is “It is not just about migrants”.
In his message, Pope Francis spells out what that means,
reflecting on how we can all build the “city of God” if we welcome, protect,
promote, and integrate those seeking a better life.
“It is not just about them,” he says, “but about all of us,
and about the present and future of the human family.”
“When we show concern for them, we also show concern for
ourselves, for everyone; in taking care of them, we all grow; in listening to
them, we also give voice to a part of ourselves that we may keep hidden because
it is not well regarded nowadays.” The Pope adds several examples of what
he means.
Our fears
“It is also about our fears.”
He says sometimes fears are legitimate but that they become
an obstacle “when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of
making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even – without realizing it – racist.”
Fear keeps us from encountering the Lord in another person, he says.
Charity and humanity
Pope Francis says the issue of migrants and refugees also
has to do with charity and humanity. “Through works of charity, we demonstrate
our faith. And the highest form of charity is that shown to those unable to
reciprocate and perhaps even to thank us in return.”
Compassion for our shared humanity, he says, leads us to
recognize suffering in another person and to take action to heal and save them.
“To be compassionate means to make room for that tenderness which today’s
society so often asks us to repress.”
Excluding no one
The Holy Father says it is also about seeing that no one is
marginalized, observing that today’s world “is increasingly becoming more
elitist and cruel towards the excluded.”
“Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of
war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in
the refugees produced by these conflicts.”
The price is always paid by the poor and the most
vulnerable, he says.
Last put first, the whole person
Pope Francis says it is about putting the last in first
place, calling this a Christian’s true motto.
“In the logic of the Gospel, the last come first, and we
must put ourselves at their service.”
It is about the whole person and about all people, he adds.
“In every political activity, in every programme, in every
pastoral action we must always put the person at the centre, in his or her many
aspects, including the spiritual dimension.”
Building the city of God and man
Finally, the Pope says it is also about building the city of
God and man, which he notes is not the same as a technological and consumerist
paradise.
The phenomenon of migration, he says, debunks “the myth of a
progress that benefits a few while built on the exploitation of many.”
Migrants and refugees are our brothers and sisters, he
points out, and are “an occasion that Providence gives us to help build a more
just society, a more perfect democracy, a more united country, a more fraternal
world and a more open and evangelical Christian community.”
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