Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move - N° 86, September 2001

Regional Consultations and
a World Meeting
on the Pastoral Care of Migrants

Nilda CASTRO
Official of the Pontifical Council

A preceding issue of "People on the Move" (no. 84) published a roundup of four regional consultations and a concluding world meeting of National Directors for the pastoral care of migrants that took place between September 1999 and October 2000. The final or summary statements of the four regional meetings were also published (in no. 85) for a more detailed description of what took place during those meetings.
This issue carries some of the papers presented at these gatherings. The useful information and interesting analysis of the migration phenomenon that they offer deserve a wider dissemination. For lack of space, the publication had to be limited to a selection.
"Key Trends and Developments Affecting International Migration to and within the 'New World'" by Fr. Lydio Tomasi, c.s., Director of the Center for Migration Studies in New York, and "Smuggling and Trafficking in Humans: a Human Rights Issue" by Dr. Susan F. Martin, Professor at Georgetown University, New York describe the present trends in international migration and the urgent problems linked to the phenomenon. Since both presentations were given at the Regional Meeting for America, they focus on the American situation although they do not fail to refer to the situation world-wide.
"La Migración a la Luz de la Exhortación Apostólica Ecclesia in America" (Migration in the light of the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America) is self-explanatory. It presents the migration phenomenon in the light of the discussions that took place during the Synod of Bishops dedicated to America and the synod document that was later issued. The author, Archbishop Alberto Suárez Inda of the Archdiocese of Morelia, Mexico, was one of the Synod Fathers.
The response of the Church to the challenges of international migration can take many forms. Dr. Stefano Zamagni, President of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), attempts to describe the role of Christian communities and organizations in this field after a very interesting analysis of the way migration is tackled today from different points of view. His paper is entitled "The Migratory Question Today and the Role of ICMC".
Other articles will be published in the next issue.