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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 26 OCT 2010 (VIS) - "One human family" is the theme chosen by the   
   Holy Father for the ninety-seventh World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which is   
   due to be celebrated on 16 January 2011.   
      
   Some extracts from the English-language translation of the Pope's Message are   
   given below:   
      
   "The World Day of Migrants and Refugees offers the whole Church an opportunity   
   to reflect on a theme linked to the growing phenomenon of migration, to pray   
   that hearts may open to Christian welcome and to the effort to increase in the   
   world justice and charity, pillars on which to build an authentic and lasting   
   peace. 'As I have loved you, so you also should love one another', is the   
   invitation that the Lord forcefully addresses to us and renews constantly: if   
   the Father calls us to be beloved children in His dearly beloved Son, He also   
   calls us to recognise each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.   
      
   "This profound link between all human beings is the origin of the theme that I   
   have chosen for our reflection this year: 'One human family', one family of   
   brothers and sisters in societies that are becoming ever more multiethnic and   
   intercultural, where people of various religions are also urged to take part in   
   dialogue, so that a serene and fruitful coexistence with respect for legitimate   
   differences may be found".   
      
   "The road is the same, that of life, but the situations that we pass through on   
   this route are different: many people have to face the difficult experience of   
   migration in its various forms: ... In various cases the departure from their   
   country is motivated by different forms of persecution, so that escape becomes   
   necessary. Moreover, the phenomenon of globalisation itself, characteristic of   
   our epoch, is not only a social and economic process, but also entails   
   'humanity itself [that] is becoming increasingly interconnected', crossing   
   geographical and cultural boundaries. In this regard, the Church does not cease   
   to recall that the deep sense of this epochal process and its fundamental   
   ethical criterion are given by the unity of the human family and its   
   development towards what is good. All, therefore, belong to one family,   
   migrants and the local populations that welcome them, and all have the same   
   right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal, as the   
   social doctrine of the Church teaches. It is here that solidarity and sharing   
   are founded".   
      
   "This is also the perspective with which to look at the reality of migration.   
   In fact, as the Servant of God Paul VI formerly noted, 'the weakening of   
   brotherly ties between individuals and nations', is a profound cause of   
   underdevelopment and - we may add - has a major impact on the migration   
   phenomenon".   
      
   "Venerable John Paul II, on the occasion of this same Day celebrated in 2001,   
   emphasised that '[the universal common good] includes the whole family of   
   peoples, beyond every nationalistic egoism. The right to emigrate must be   
   considered in this context. The Church recognises this right in every human   
   person, in its dual aspect of the possibility to leave one's country and the   
   possibility to enter another country to look for better conditions of life'.   
      
   "At the same time, States have the right to regulate migration flows and to   
   defend their own frontiers, always guaranteeing the respect due to the dignity   
   of each and every human person. Immigrants, moreover, have the duty to   
   integrate into the host country, respecting its laws and its national   
   identity".   
      
   "In this context, the presence of the Church, as the People of God journeying   
   through history among all the other peoples, is a source of trust and hope. ...   
   Through the action within her of the Holy Spirit, 'the effort to establish a   
   universal brotherhood is not a hopeless one'. It is the Holy Eucharist in   
   particular that constitutes, in the heart of the Church, an inexhaustible   
   source of communion for the whole of humanity. It is thanks to this that the   
   People of God includes 'every nation, race, people, and tongue', not with a   
   sort of sacred power but with the superior service of charity".   
      
   "The situation of refugees and of the other forced migrants, who are an   
   important part of the migration phenomenon, should be specifically considered   
   in the light of the theme 'One human family'. ... Respect of their rights, as   
   well as the legitimate concern for security and social coherence, foster a   
   stable and harmonious coexistence. ... This means that those who are forced to   
   leave their homes or their country will be helped to find a place where they   
   may live in peace and safety, where they may work and take on the rights and   
   duties that exist in the country that welcomes them, contributing to the common   
   good and without forgetting the religious dimension of life.   
      
   "Lastly, I would like to address a special thought, again accompanied by   
   prayer, to foreign and international students. ... They are also a socially   
   important category in view of their return, as future leaders, to their   
   countries of origin. They constitute cultural and economic 'bridges' between   
   these countries and the host countries. ... This is the conviction that must   
   support the commitment to foreign students and must accompany attention to   
   their practical problems, such as financial difficulties or the hardship of   
   feeling alone in facing a very different social and university context, as well   
   as the difficulties of integration".   
      
   "The world of migrants is vast and diversified. It knows wonderful and   
   promising experiences, as well as, unfortunately, so many others that are   
   tragic and unworthy of the human being and of societies that claim to be civil.   
   For the Church this reality constitutes an eloquent sign of our times which   
   further highlights humanity's vocation to form one family, and, at the same   
   time, the difficulties which, instead of uniting it, divide it and tear it   
   apart. Let us not lose hope and let us together pray God, the Father of all, to   
   help us ... to be men and women capable of brotherly relationships and, at the   
   social, political and institutional levels, so that understanding and   
   reciprocal esteem among peoples and cultures may increase"   
   MESS/VIS 20101026 (1040)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)