VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 206   
   DATE 21-11-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope to participants in the World Congress for the Pastoral Care of   
   Migrants: "Migration is an aspiration to hope"   
   - Video message to the participants in the 4th Festival of the Social Doctrine   
   of the Church   
   - Francis: a strong and widespread desire to walk together   
   - The Virgin Mary, protagonist of the 19th Public Session of the Pontifical   
   Academies   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
   - Appointment of the deputy editor of "L'Osservatore Romano"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to participants in the World Congress for the Pastoral Care of   
   Migrants: "Migration is an aspiration to hope"   
    Vatican City, 21 November 2014 (VIS) - "Migration is still an aspiration to   
   hope, notwithstanding new developments and the emergence of situations which   
   are at times painful and even tragic", said the Pope in his address to the   
   participants in the Seventh World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants,   
   affirming the powerful hope that inspires many inhabitants of troubled areas   
   throughout the world to seek a better future for their families in other   
   places, even at the risk of disappointment and failure. This, he remarked, is   
   caused in great part by the economic crisis which, to differing degrees,   
   affects every country.   
    The three-day Congress highlighted the dynamics of cooperation and   
   development in the pastoral care of migrants. "First and foremost you have   
   analysed the factors which cause migration, in particular: inequality,   
   poverty, overpopulation, the growing need for employment in some sectors of   
   the global job market, disasters caused by climate change, wars and   
   persecution, and the desire of younger people to relocate as they seek new   
   opportunities. Moreover, the link between cooperation and development shows,   
   on the one hand, the difference of interests between states and migrants, and,   
   on the other hand, the opportunities which derive for both".   
    "In effect, receiving nations draw advantages from employing immigrants for   
   production needs and national prosperity, not infrequently filling gaps   
   created by the demographic crisis", observed the Holy Father. "In turn, the   
   nations which migrants leave show a certain reduction in unemployment and,   
   above all, benefit from earnings which are then sent back to meet the needs of   
   families which remain in the country. Emigrants, in the end, are able to   
   fulfil the desire for a better future for themselves and their families. Yet   
   we know that some problems also accompany these benefits. We find in the   
   countries of origin, among other things, an impoverishment due to the   
   so-called 'brain drain', the effects on infants and young people who grow up   
   without one or both parents, and the risk of marriages failing due to   
   prolonged absences. In the receiving nations, we also see difficulties   
   associated with migrants settling in urban neighbourhoods which are already   
   problematic, as well as their difficulties in integrating and learning to   
   respect the social and cultural conventions which they find. In this regard,   
   pastoral workers play an important role through initiating dialogue, welcoming   
   and assisting with legal issues, mediating with the local population. In the   
   countries of origin, on the other hand, the closeness of pastoral workers to   
   the families and children of migrant parents can lessen the negative   
   repercussions of the parents' absence".   
    However, the Congress affirmed that the implications of the Church's pastoral   
   concern in the overall context of cooperation, development and migration go   
   much further, and "it is here that the Church has much to say. The Christian   
   community, in fact, is continuously engaged in welcoming migrants and sharing   
   with them God's gifts, in particular the gift of faith". Furthermore, the   
   Church "promotes pastoral plans for the evangelisation and support of migrants   
   throughout their journey from their country of origin, through countries of   
   transit, to the receiving countries. She gives particular attention to meeting   
   the spiritual needs of migrants through catechesis, liturgy and the   
   celebration of the Sacraments".   
    "Sadly", he added, "migrants often experience disappointment, distress,   
   loneliness and marginalisation. In effect, the migrant worker has to deal with   
   the problem both of being uprooted and needing to integrate. Here the Church   
   also seeks to be a source of hope: she develops programs of education and   
   orientation; she raises her voice in defence of migrants' rights; she offers   
   assistance, including material assistance to everyone, without exception, so   
   that all may be treated as children of God. When encountering migrants, it is   
   important to adopt an integrated perspective, capable of valuing their   
   potential rather than seeing them only as a problem to be confronted and   
   resolved. The authentic right to development regards every person and all   
   people, viewed integrally. This demands that all people be guaranteed a   
   minimal level of participation in the life of the human community. How much   
   more necessary must this be in the case of the Christian community, where no   
   one is a stranger and, therefore, everyone is worthy of being welcomed and   
   supported".   
    "The Church, beyond being a community of the faithful that sees the face of   
   Jesus Christ in its neighbour, is a Mother without limits and without   
   frontiers. She is the Mother of all and so she strives to foster the culture   
   of welcome and solidarity, where no one is considered useless, out of place or   
   disposable. ... Migrants, therefore, by virtue of their very humanity, even   
   prior to their cultural values, widen the sense of human fraternity. At the   
   same time, their presence is a reminder of the need to eradicate inequality,   
   injustice and abuses. In that way, migrants will be able to become partners in   
   constructing a richer identity for the communities which provide them   
   hospitality, as well as the people who welcome them, prompting the development   
   of a society which is inclusive, creative and respectful of the dignity of   
   all".   
    The Pope concluded by invoking upon the participants in the Congress "the   
   protection of Mary, Mother of God, and St. Joseph, who themselves experienced   
   the difficulty of exile in Egypt".   
      
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    Video message to the participants in the 4th Festival of the Social Doctrine   
   of the Church   
    Vatican City, 21 November 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis has sent a video message   
   to the participants in the fourth edition of the Festival of the Social   
   Doctrine of the Church, which this year focuses on the theme, "Beyond places,   
   in time". The title, he says, suggests various points for reflection, the   
   first of which is the concept of "going beyond". "The current situation of   
   social and economic crisis can frighten us, disorientate us or seem so   
   difficult that we conclude there is nothing we can do. The great temptation is   
   to stop and tend to our own wounds, and find in that an excuse not to listen   
   to the cry of the poor and the suffering of those who have lost the dignity of   
   being able to put bread on the table because they have lost their jobs. And   
   those who seek only to cure their own wounds end up preening themselves. This   
   is a trap. The risk is that indifference makes us blind, deaf and mute,   
   present only to ourselves, before the mirror, so that everything happens   
   outside us. Men and women closed up in themselves". This narcissism, he says,   
   is not the right approach.   
    "We are required to go beyond this and to respond to real needs", he   
   continues. "To go overcome, it is necessary to take the initiative. ...   
   Nowadays, even in the economic sphere it is urgent to take the initiative, as   
   the system tends to sanction everything and money takes control. The system   
   leads to this form of globalisation which is not good and which sanctions   
   everything. ... Taking the initiative in these spheres means having the   
   courage not to let oneself be imprisoned by money and short-term gains which   
   enslave us. We need to find a new way of seeing things!"   
    "The real problem is not money though, but rather people: we cannot ask of   
   money that which only people can do or create. Money alone does not lead to   
   development: development requires people who have the courage to take   
   initiative. And taking the initiative means developing activity capable of   
   innovation, not only of a technological nature; it is also necessary to renew   
   working relations, experimenting with new forms of participation and   
   responsibility for workers, inventing new ways of entering the world of work,   
   creating a bond of solidarity between business and territory. Taking   
   initiative means overcoming 'assistentialism'".   
    "Taking initiative also means considering love as the true motor of change",   
   he adds. "Freeing talents is the beginning of change; this action allows envy,   
   jealousy, rivalry, disagreement and prejudice, and opening up to joy, to the   
   joy of the new". He emphasises that the question of talent is of particular   
   relevance to the young: "If we want to go ahead, we must make decisive   
   investments in them and trust in them".   
    "'Going beyond places' is not the result of individual chance but of sharing   
   an aim: history is a path towards fulfilment. If we act as a population, if we   
   go ahead together, our existence will illustrate this meaning and this   
   fullness".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis: a strong and widespread desire to walk together   
    Vatican City, 21 November 2014 (VIS) - "This anniversary invites us to give   
   thanks to God for the many fruits harvested in this last half-century. In   
   particular, there has occurred what the Council recommended: the appreciation   
   of how much there is that is good and true in the life of Christians in every   
   community". Thus Pope Francis greeted the participants in the plenary assembly   
   of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the theme of which is   
   "The aim of ecumenism: principles, opportunities and challenges, fifty years   
   after Unitatis Redintegratio".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)