Three Cardinals appeal for
relocation of refugees in Europe
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| Pope Francis visits refugees in Lesbos in April 2016 |
In a letter addressed to the Episcopal Conferences of the
European Union, Cardinals Jean-Claude Hollerich, President of the Commission of
the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE); Michael Czerny, SJ,
Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for
Promoting Integral Human Development; and Konrad Krajewski, the Almoner of His
Holiness, call for refugees present on the island of Lesbos to be relocated to
other European countries.
By Vatican News
Three leading Cardinals have called for European Episcopal
Conferences to help relocate refugees stuck in Lesbos and other reception camps
in Greece.
In a letter addressed to the presidents of the Bishops’
Conferences, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, President of the Commission of
the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) highlights Pope
Francis' concern for the more than 20,000 adults and over 1,100 unaccompanied
minors living in precarious and overcrowded structures “in Europe, but outside
of the European society”. The letter is also signed by Cardinals Michael
Czerny, SJ, Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; and Konrad Krajewski, the
Almoner of His Holiness.
The letter begins by recalling the Angelus of September 6,
2015, when Pope Francis made an appeal “to parishes, religious communities,
monasteries and shrines throughout Europe, that they express the Gospel in a
concrete way and host a refugee family”. At that time, the Holy Father also
urged the support of all the European bishops for his appeal, recalling that
“Mercy is the second name of Love”.
“Encouraged by the Holy Father’s words, this path has become
– as well as a Christian duty – a heartfelt invitation for the whole Church to
awaken new, evangelical energies of welcome in each of the member countries of
the European Union”, the Cardinals write. They suggest that the Bishops’
Conferences should “agree on a project for a humanitarian corridor from Lesbos
and other first reception camps in Greece, in collaboration with their
individual governments”.
They note the successful experience with the relocation and
integration of refugee families in Vatican City and in the Archdiocese of
Luxembourg, and invite the Church in European Union “not to remain indifferent”
and to give back hope to these persons.
The letter is accompanied by the document “Guidelines on the
procedure for the transfer of asylum seekers and refugees from Greece to a
European country” – which provides the legal basis for a continent-wide project
of relocation, and proposes a concrete manner to make it a reality. This
document was prepared by the Community of Sant’Egidio and provides Bishops’
Conferences with technical information necessary to receive and integrate these
persons and families.
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