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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   OFFER REFUGES A HOPE FOR THE FUTURE   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 26 OCT 2010 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office this morning a   
   press conference was held to present the Message of the Holy Father for the   
   ninety-seventh World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which is due to be   
   celebrated on 16 January 2011.   
      
   Participating in today's conference were Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio,   
   president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and   
   Itinerant Peoples, and Fr. Gabriele Bentoglio C.S., under secretary of the same   
   dicastery.   
      
   Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio began: "The relations established between   
   migrants (both individuals and groups) and their host society may be   
   schematised in the following terms: (1) Assimilation or absorption, which   
   translates into conformity to social mechanisms and leads to   
   'deculturalisation' or 'depersonalisation'. (2) Ghettoising, which implies   
   closure, self-defence and resistance in the face of exclusion, rejection of the   
   surrounding society, marginalisation and discrimination, all of which nourish   
   mutual aggression and hostility. (3) Syncretism, or the 'melting pot', which   
   finds expression in the fusion of various cultural models and the loss of   
   specific cultural identity. (4) Cultural pluralism, which accompanies cultures   
   and seems to arise as a reaction to the one-dimensional character of the local   
   culture that tends to suborn cultural models to those of production and   
   consumption".   
      
   To these classic models "we may add 'social integration' accompanied by   
   'cultural synthesis'", said the archbishop. "This leads, on the one hand, to a   
   dynamic process (the reciprocity of the exchange) and, on the other, to a form   
   of social integration which presupposes participation to create and transform   
   social relationships. .. This is the only process that can lead to successful   
   multiculturalism, and only this process allows groups of immigrants to create a   
   'new culture', the beneficiary of which will be society as a whole".   
      
   "In the context of this presentation, we should recall that the United Nations   
   declared 2010 as the 'International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures',   
   ... with the aim of reiterating the idea of the pluralism of humanity and the   
   interaction between cultural diversity and inter-cultural dialogue. Thus, the   
   Holy Father's Message also reinforces the international community's perception   
   of the importance of dialogue and promotes the recognition of human rights for   
   everyone, combating new forms of racism and discrimination".   
      
   For his part, Fr. Bentoglio affirmed that there are "currently fifteen million   
   refugees" in the world, and that "the number of internally displaced persons,   
   above all as relates to cases of violation of human rights, stands at around   
   twenty-seven million".   
      
   "The challenge", he said, "consists in creating areas of tolerance, hope,   
   healing and protection, and in ensuring that these dramas and tragedies - too   
   often experienced in the past and in the present - never happen again". In this   
   context, he highlighted how the objective is "to guarantee refugees, asylum   
   seekers and internally displaced persons are given the concrete possibility to   
   develop their human potential".   
      
   The under secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants   
   and Itinerant Peoples indicated that "welcome begins with empathy; that is,   
   with the effort to understand the other's feelings and to understand how it   
   feels to find oneself in an unknown world with different customs and   
   traditions".   
      
   He then went on to highlight that the problem is not limited to Europe alone,   
   pointing out that "South Africa accepted 220 thousand asylum seekers during the   
   course of last year, almost the same number of people as that accepted by all   
   twenty-seven member States of the European Union together".   
      
   The behaviour of countries, said Fr. Bentoglio, "is often dictated by fear of   
   foreigners and, not infrequently, by veiled discrimination" thus "eluding their   
   responsibility to welcome and support people who seek refuge and humanitarian   
   protection".   
      
   "It seems certain that refugees and asylum seekers today suffer worse   
   conditions than they did in the past, also in the host countries in the South   
   of the planet". This "begs the question: what does it mean to live for years in   
   an overcrowded camp with no hope of a better life, or to see no future for   
   one's children? Thus, it often happens that people abandon the camp and move to   
   urban conurbations in the hope of rebuilding a life for themselves, and that   
   they do so without requesting the necessary authorisation and thus violate the   
   law".   
      
   "It is necessary to offer some hope for the future", the under secretary of the   
   dicastery concluded. "For her part, the Church is seeking to respond to this   
   question, as her efforts and activities clearly show".   
   OP/VIS 20101026 (760)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)