Czerny: Expand regular migration channels to replace dangerous routes
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development celebrated the Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees at the Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica in Marseille. He called on those present to overcome their prejudices and fears: "Allow people to become full citizens; migration contributes to creating multicultural societies where diversity becomes enrichment."
Salvatore Cernuzio - Vatican City
"Expand regular migration channels and allow people to become full citizens." A day after the energetic appeal from Marseille by Pope Francis in favour of all migrant brothers and sisters whose cry remains "stifled" today, Cardinal Michael Czerny appealed anew from the city in the south of France for more incisive action in favour of people who would otherwise be at the mercy of "traps, exploitation, abuse, violence" during the so-called "journeys of hope."
The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development - who accompanied the Pope on his 44th apostolic journey - celebrated on Sunday, September 24, the Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees at the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie Majeure.
Justice and solidarity
And it is precisely from the Pope's words, notably his invitation to "listen to the life stories" of people who flee, that Czerny reflects on the need to analyse the "disturbing" reality of the migration phenomenon in all facets. This phenomenon is rightly addressed from a political perspective, but, according to the cardinal, it should be addressed instead according to the "disruptive logic" that Jesus introduces in the Gospel. A logic that combines "justice with solidarity" and "inverts the order of priorities recognised at the social level." A perspective that "goes far beyond our understanding of human relationships", stressed the Canadian cardinal, an emigrant with his family from then Czechoslovakia.
Moved by hope
The head of the Dicastery lists "all kinds of difficulties" emigrants forcibly endure on their journeys. "There are even those who lose their lives!" he denounces, "but - he adds - even in the middle of the desert or among the threatening waves, an objective gives them strength to move forward since the same hope unites everyone: to be able to ensure a decent life for themselves and their families.
Full citizenship rights
"In the current migratory context, prioritising the last means assuming very urgent personal and collective commitments," says Czerny, reiterating the call to guarantee "respect for human rights and dignity to everyone." He insists that there must be doors to knock on, regular migration channels must be expanded, and people must be allowed to become 'full citizens.' This would replace "the costly and dangerous routes the majority consider as the only possibility today "and favour better migratory flows for the benefit of all".
Not an emergency of the moment
Also, as the Pope said in Marseille, the migration phenomenon is not "a momentary emergency" subject to alarmist propaganda but "a fact of our time" requiring foresight. In managing it, added Cardinal Cerny, we need to harmonise "justice with solidarity" and "have recourse to that spirit of fraternal sharing that transcends all borders."
Enrichment
Of course, Czerny admits, "such sharing requires sacrifice because we must deprive ourselves of something so that everyone can have what is necessary, but for every Christian, there is the certainty "that the Lord always provides for what we truly need". At the same time, migration is a gift and it contributes to the construction of "multicultural societies where diversity becomes an opportunity for everyone's enrichment". Unfortunately, "prejudices and fears prevent us from seizing this opportunity and instead, generates marginalisation and exclusion", laments Czerny.
"Respond to the culture of waste with the culture of encounter."
Now, here is an invitation to everyone: "We must respond to the culture of waste with the culture of encounter, a wellspring of joy. To the Christian communities, a further recommendation: faced with these challenges, "set a good example through a scandalously evangelical way of life".
From Vatican News
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