Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

IV World Congress

on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees

Vatican City, 5-10 October 1998

Conclusions

Preface

We consider it appropriate to include some notes regarding the birth of these conclusions. During the Congress, a “Working group” prepared a draft which was read during the plenary session. Unfortunately, it was not possible to distribute the draft to all the participants beforehand. For lack of time, not all participants were able to give their comments.

The Migration Section of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People collected the remarks made during the plenary session and integrated them into the draft. Other Congress participants spontaneously sent interesting observations in writing and these were taken into consideration. The modified draft was then sent to two members of the “Working group” for further evaluation. They sent in their comments and suggestions for further modification of the statement. This is how the present text came to be. It was then translated into various languages. 

Introduction

The participants in the Fourth World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, which took place in the Vatican on October 5-10, 1998, organized by the Pontifical Council in charge of promoting the aforementioned pastoral care, wish to point out the significance of the fact that in the context of the preparatory process for the Great Jubilee, the year 1998 is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. His descent on Pentecost made the Lord’s first disciples discover the itinerary of fraternity and of proclamation, over and above the diversity of languages.

In his Message for Migrants’ Day of this year, the Holy Father recalls that in ancient Babel pride shattered the unity of the human family. The Spirit of Pentecost, through his gifts, came to re-establish the lost unity and rebuilt it on the model of trinitarian communion, in which the three Persons subsist in the undivided unity of the divine nature.

By favoring mutual knowledge and universal cooperation, migration constitutes a new and more extensive push for the unification of the human family in which it is easy to see the action of “the Spirit of God who, with wondrous providence, directs the course of time and renews the face of the earth” (cf. GS 26). It was in this perspective and with this confidence that the Fourth World Congress took place.

SECTION I: GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN MOBILITY AT THE DAWN OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM 

At the dawn of the third millennium, the world is being radically transformed. The fundamental sources of legal authority, the sovereign nation-states that make up the modern world are faced with a multifaceted challenge. Globalization, free trade, the emergence of new forms of “policy-making” at the regional and global levels, as well as international migration, increase interdependence. Societies become more diversified. This process could cause instability but might just as well open the way to progress.

There are good reasons to doubt that globalization would reduce international migration. While it is in itself neutral, because of the way it is presently being managed by the neo-liberal capitalistic economic system, it is generating more riches for the rich and greater poverty for the poor. Up to now, data on hand show that developing countries are not benefiting much from the globalization process. In fact there are disquieting signs of increasing income inequalities within and between countries. 

Globalization also tends to dominate the economy and the political freedom of nations thereby causing the exploitation of the environment and of populations, and also economic and monetary crises. The international debt issue is becoming a serious concern. However, there is also a serious danger of looking for solutions to the "debt trap" without addressing more fundamental issues within the context of both the history of and the reasons for indebtedness in the world of globalization. 

At the same time, there remains the open question on whether the existing political upheavals and abuses of human rights causing huge refugee flows are going to diminish progressively.

The Church’s response to the changes occurring in the modern world will be significant as long as it considers migration among its top priorities. The challenge of the third millennium can be summarized in the need to broaden and to delve deeper into the concept of catholicity. Since its foundation, the Church has always given particular importance to respect for the other, for the foreigner. This exigency is a rich source of teachings and practices for the present and the coming millennium. But the upheavals that are at the horizon need new responses, anchored in the Christian traditions and apt to face the unknown that is approaching. Everything points to the supposition that Christians will be obliged to double up their efforts in the sphere of migration.    

In this sense it is legitimate to speak of the need to deepen the meaning of the catholicity of the Church. 

The Church should come still closer to the victims of organized trafficking, especially women and children. They, too, have the right to a renewed and profound Christian solidarity.

The immense and increasing gap between countries undoubtedly contributes to the rise of new flows of migrants and refugees. The destabilization of societies, perhaps even the implosion of certain states, could cause new migration flows. Before this phenomenon, the Church should adapt its historical structures of welcome and adjust them to the new needs of people who are displaced within their own countries, but who do not receive protection from the legal government. 

Internal migration is becoming a serious and immense social problem. It brings about psychological consequences that endanger the migrant’s human condition. It is therefore necessary to examine their social causes and the disruption of fundamental social relations that they provoke. The migrants who left their communities of origin socialize differently from those who return. 

The future of international migration is not predetermined. It will be the consequence of human will and governmental policies. The catholicity of the Church can help to set up structures and strategies so that the positive potential of all migration will be realized. This cannot be done without inter-religious cooperation and the collaboration of States and international organizations. The task before us is not easy. International migration is developing in various and specific ways. However, the phenomenon is global and requires strategies at the worldwide and regional levels. Only a total vision will allow the formulation of a coherent strategy that is capable of putting in equilibrium the rights and duties of all persons. This is all for the well-being of the citizens of this world which is getting to be one big village. Ensuring safety and respect for national laws are not necessarily incompatible with a more just and constructive treatment of migration phenomena. It can also be said that devising a global strategy which will diminish the sufferings of refugees and migrants will serve the most basic interests of contemporary states. This strategy will have to seriously attack the causes of migration flows, especially those concerning socio-economic disparities and conflicts.

SECTION II: HOW DOES THE POLITICAL WORLD REACT TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE CHALLENGES RAISED BY THE NEW FORMS OF HUMAN MOBILITY AT THE DAWN OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM?

A.Some Observations

1. The free circulation of goods and capital is widely accepted and as a result, almost everywhere products coming from every region of the world are part of daily life. On the other hand, with regard to the circulation of persons and their presence in the midst of autochthonous populations, the situation is far from being clear and often depends on the social climate in the host country.

1.1. When foreigners are seen as economic and cultural enrichment, they are regarded with respect and kindness.

1.2. On the contrary, when they are considered an economic burden or a cultural danger, they experience rejection, often xenophobia, and even racism.

2. Politically, this reality is expressed by a deep uncertainty. On the whole, the political reactions to the new forms of human mobility are varied:

2.1. At the level of action, the human spirit seems disoriented, restless and lost;

2.2. at the level of structures, too many activities are carried out without any coordination;

2.3. at the same time, the national laws and humanitarian projects often deal only with short-term activities.

3. Although the political world is aware of the juridical, economic and humanitarian challenges raised to the national governments and the international community by the new forms of human mobility, adequate strategies have still not been developed. International instruments regarding international migration are often ignored, especially in North Africa. 

4. While every human person should enjoy the freedom to emigrate, the national policies of some countries which tend to make people emigrate are not exactly in consonance with such a right.

 5. It is also necessary to call to mind the plight of the internally displaced individuals, victims of armed conflicts in their own countries. Their situation is not less painful than that of refugees and while the latter are protected by international conventions, the former are left alone to themselves without any protection at all.

6. Many countries accept migrants and refugees; however, the need to emigrate, whether definitively or temporarily and for very different reasons, does not go hand in hand with the legal possibilities for migration. Particularly with regard to the many categories of refugees, the international regulation for their protection is seriously endangered. Often the protection of refugees is no longer considered a humanitarian challenge but a matter subject to particular political interests.

7. All this favors irregular forms of migration the ambiguity of which is obvious:

7.1. Although there is a certain effort to fight against setting up a global market that exploits and treats irregular migrants like new slaves deprived of their fundamental rights — and even if these efforts are weak at times — too many people and economic agents still profit from this illegal market.

7.2. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize that this brutal market ensures at least a minimum subsistence to those men and women who would otherwise have nothing at all.

8. In many refugees’ countries of origin, action on the factors that push people to flee is still inadequate; the right to live in one’s own country is threatened. As to the destination countries, being nation-States, they seek solutions in most cases along the lines of restrictive admittance. Migrants, particularly those who are undocumented, are usually subject to exploitation and abuse in the country of destination where their countries of origin have practically no jurisdiction over them. There is no real common action between the countries of origin and the host countries that would help fight the causes of forced migration because of a lack of adequate structures, but also because the nation-State has not yet redefined its role with regard to the new forms of human mobility.

9. Given the vastness of the new forms of mobility and despite so many efforts, the political world runs the risk of foregoing its most noble mission: to promote and protect the dignity of every human being in his/her uniqueness and in this way to guarantee life and the possibility of living together for everyone and for all peoples in security and in peace.

B.Some Recommendations

Determine some effective acts of reparation and reconciliation:

1.1. Introduce national and international policies geared 

• to reduce the pressures causing migration by promoting a more even distribution of the benefits of globalization and through increased support for the development of the poorest countries; 
• to bring about a greater respect for the rights of migrants and an elimination of all forms of migrant exploitation, including organized action against the “business” of unscrupulous recruiters and agents.

 1.2. Address seriously the issue on international debt.

1.2.1 Remove or substantially reduce the international debt weighing down unbearably on these countries; in any event, lay down international juridical regulations (with an eventual consultation of the International Court of Justice of The Hague) in this regard. At the same time introduce checks to monitor whether the amount equal to the reduction or cancellation of foreign debt is actually used for the country’s socio-economic development and the welfare of its people.

1.2.2. Identify those countries or international institutions, which have already condoned international debt of developing countries, at least in part, so that their example may encourage other countries or institutions to follow suit.

1.2.3. Obviously this has to come hand in hand with a reduction of wasteful consumption on the global level especially in the First World and an increase in direct investment in the Third World. In the latter, integral structural reforms have to be set up especially in the agrarian, fiscal and financial sectors, and in urban and social services.

1.2.4. It is also necessary to make a distinction among different kinds of debts specifically: trade related debts from debts due to accumulated interests and debts related to socially harmful projects including military and armaments industry.  

1.2.5. There has to be greater clarity in the nature of the relationship between investments and the policies related to financial liberalization, the fixing of exchange rates and interest rates.  

1.2.6. Privatization must be carefully planned so as increase efficiency and availability and not profitability.

1.2.7. Carry out a drive for serious domestic austerity intended to reduce or eliminate "mega-projects" that are internationally financed but in reality bring little benefits to the nation and its people.  

1.3. In line with Pope John Paul II’s words: "It would certainly be significant to make a gesture of reconciliation an intrinsic dimension of the Jubilee, manifested by some form of amnesty for a large portion of those immigrants who, more than the others, suffer the drama of precariousness and uncertainty, that is, the illegal migrants." (Special Audience to Migration Congress participants, 9 October 1998). 

2. Call for the ratification of the Convention on the protection of the rights of migrant workers and the members of their families. Although migrants should be the focus of policy-makers’ and politicians’ concern, their families should not be left out of the question. 

The right to emigrate is not just the right of the individual person but of the whole family. When whole families emigrate, the children born in the country of destination are technically not migrants. However, they, too, fully live the precariousness and uncertainty of migration. Thus, in migration, family life together must be guaranteed to the maximum. Family needs must be safeguarded especially those regarding housing, the education of the children, work conditions, social security, health care and against heavy taxation burdens.

Immigration laws are so far based on the control of “resources” and tend to be restrictive. They have become obstacles for family reunification and the basis for the lack of observance of this fundamental human right. 

3. National laws regarding the granting of residence or citizenship to migrants in countries belonging to the same Regional grouping should be harmonized so that they would not be in conflict with regional protocols and treaties on free circulation.

4. Request that the competence of UNHCR be broadened, with an extensive revision of the Geneva Convention and its protocols adapting them to the new situations of mass exodus (asylum seekers and applicants for humanitarian protection).

In the meantime, 

• support the continued use by the General Assembly of the United Nations of the good offices of the UNHCR to provide protection and assistance to people who do not fit the definition of “refugee”;
•  support the continued use of the OAU to provide protection to persons who are victims of war;
• support the protection of internally displaced persons in the international community.

5. Campaign for the institution of an International Court of Justice that handles violations of human rights including political, civil and social and economic rights. 

SECTION III: APPEAL TO THE CHURCH IN THE WAKE OF HUMAN MOBILITY AT THE DAWN OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

All Christians are called to share in the mission of the Church to welcome immigrants and refugees since in and for the Church there are no “foreigners”. Rather, through their baptism all Christians, citizens, immigrants and refugees alike, are incorporated into the one Body of Christ, the Church, and are continually nourished in this unity by the Bread of the Eucharist. Thus in planning for, and the provision of, pastoral responses to their needs, migrants and refugees themselves should be directly involved. 

This situation touches the heart of the Church’s mission."The Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament — a sign and instrument, that is, of intimate union with God and of unity among all men " (LG 1).

Trinitarian Life is the source of her Mission. The Church is founded on this movement of the Father’s love who sent his Son in the Spirit to reveal to all men and women, starting from those who are the most displaced, that they are beloved children of God and thus brothers and sisters of their fellow human beings.

The Mission of the Church is universal. This is lived in the faith in Christ who died and rose again from the dead. In him we believe that the “wall of hatred” that divides people has fallen.

Today, in this context of globalization, on the threshold of the Third Millennium, before these new forms of mobility and the new pluralism that characterizes human societies, the Church is called upon to deepen the Mystery that constitutes her and the mission that she has received from Christ.

1.The sign of Catholicity

The Church must give witness to the quality of integration that she practices in her own bosom.

1.1. More and more, communities are made up of baptized persons from different cultures.

1.2. Each community is called upon to go from passive cohabitation to active and inventive Catholicity. It is the Pastoral Care of Migrants’ responsibility to help in achieving this.

1.3. This Catholicity is based on many requirements.

1.3.1. A warm welcome is the expression of the Church’s charity understood in its most profound sense and universal character. It takes on a whole series of attitudes ranging from hospitality to understanding and valuing others, which is the psychological prerequisite to get to know one another, free from prejudices and living together serenely in harmony. Acceptance is also expressed in Christian witness. (cf. The Church and Human Mobility, no. 22).

1.3.2. The recognition of the originality of each culture in expressing the faith; the Catholic communities called “ethnic Missions”, have an important role in this area.

1.3.3. Dialogue and fraternal exchange between baptized persons of different origins in one and the same community.

1.3.4. The host community’s openness to knowing the other.

1.3.5. Awareness, on the part of baptized persons from different cultures, of the sign of fraternity they must give in their communion in Christ’s love.

1.3.6. Openness and warm welcome to migrants belonging to other Christian denominations.

1.4. Catholicity requires authentic formation

• of the lay people in the Church of arrival, who have experienced migration and who are charged with the task of welcoming in this Church.
• of the lay people in the Church of arrival, who have to be projected towards understanding the other
• of the pastoral workers who have to take on together a role of mediation within the Church. In the delicate mission of pastoral care, pastoral agents must be well prepared, if they want their action to be effective. It is also important to promote interaction and osmosis among the various sectors within the diocese involved in pastoral care. The establishment of ad hoc structures for formation is strongly encouraged;
• in the faith, for all migrants, particularly children born in the country of immigration. This means not simply a good preparation for the reception of the sacraments, but an integral proclamation of the Gospel and catechetical instructions. 

2. Vigilance over the rights of the human person

2.1. The Church considers that every human person, in his/her fundamental dignity, has been created to the image of God, redeemed by Christ who died for all people.

2.2. In the real situation of the new forms of migration, some essential rights are at stake:

• the right to life
• the right to live in one’s own country in safety
• the right to material subsistence
• the right of asylum
• the right to live in one’s own family
• the right to enjoy social recognition.

2.3. In the name of Christ’s Love, the Church is vigilant over the exercise of these rights.

2.3.1. She is called upon to intervene with the public authorities when she sees that the civil law is in contradiction with the moral law.

2.3.2. Under certain circumstances, she has to guarantee timely intervention and support for those categories of migrants that are particularly vulnerable, namely:

• asylum seekers
• refugees and internally displaced people
• foreigners exposed to discrimination
• undocumented foreigners
• young, marginalized immigrants

2.3.3. Through her nearness to those who are most vulnerable, she is in a position to carry out the necessary mediation with the public authorities so that the dignity of these persons would be taken into consideration.

2.4. Such vigilance over the rights of persons should not let silence descend on the duties that fall on everyone who wishes to immigrate in a country whose laws they must respect, unless such laws go against any fundamental human right.

2.5. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a fundamental human right that includes the freedom to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance in public or in private.

3. Contribution to living together

3.1. The common good of a society called upon to live the pluralism of cultures in a new way should be the object of the Church’s attention under various aspects.

3.1.1. The struggle against any discriminatory attitudes or speech regarding cultural origin or religion, because these are in contradiction with God’s design.

3.1.2. Vigilance over the conditions of the immigrants’ family life. The family is an essential crucible of integration.

3.1.3. The will to never put nationals and immigrants in opposition in questions of security which come up in certain circumstances.

3.1.4. Informing public opinion about the complexity of the problems connected with immigration in order to reject simplistic solutions and to help baptized persons to bring about the necessary discernment in line with the Church’s teachings.

3.1.5. In this regard, the serious responsibility of mass media in the formation of public opinion is to be underlined. It is therefore necessary to entrust these means to competent and reliable professionals who are aware of their task to help the receiving population understand and respect the fundamental rights of the migrant and to assume its part of the responsibility before the international community.

3.1.6. Support for “places of mediation” which make it possible for persons of different cultures to learn to know one another and be involved together in a common project.

3.1.7. Warm welcome to migrants according to the spirit of the Gospel and services addressing the migrants’ needs to combat marginalization towards which the destination society tends to push them. These will also serve to neutralize the strategy used by sects to lure migrants into their ranks.

3.1.8.  The local and the migrant communities should assume a greater co-responsibility in the religious education of their children. This requires a new type of collaboration, given that migrant communities often speak a different language from what is spoken locally and are of a different cultural heritage. In this regard, Catholic schools are encouraged to be more open to the children of refugees and migrants in their communities.  

3.1.9 The necessary accompaniment of young immigrants in their process of integration into the society and the Church.

3.1.10. Accompany the process of integration with the spirit of respect for the migrant’s culture and tradition, in his characteristic singularity. It is in this process that it is possible to experience the uniqueness of the other and to understand that love for our neighbors means brotherhood.

3.1.11. Pastoral support for mixed marriages confronted with the differences in the spouses’ religions.

4. Inter-religious dialogue

4.1. For Catholics, dialogue with believers of other religions is not an optional choice. It is an integral part of the Mission of the Church. For “God, in an age-long dialogue, has offered and continues to offer salvation to humankind. In faithfulness to the divine initiative, the Church too must enter into a dialogue of salvation with all men and women” (Dialogue and Proclamation, no. 38).

Conciliar texts such as Nostra Aetate or the document on religious freedom remind us about the importance of dialogue.

4.2. Dialogue between believers of different religions is all the more urgent when relations are tense and mutual aggressiveness heightens and sometimes endangers social peace which is indispensable for integration.

4.3. Such dialogue involves reciprocity in an attitude of openness and tolerance toward one another.

4.4. The dialogue of life is a first, indispensable step in this mutual approach. This begins in the places where the believers of different religions come together and have to face the same challenges (putting order in the neighborhood, problems connected with health, scholastic support for the children…).

4.5. All the baptized persons who are involved in this process of dialogue should find in their communities the necessary support to enable them to progress in discernment and in deepening their faith in Christ, the only mediator between God and men.

5. Urgency of collaboration among Bishops’ Conferences on the theme of migration

Collaboration among Churches of the same region of the world that are facing the same problems of migration.

Collaboration among Churches of the countries of origin and the migrant-receiving countries. This collaboration should be related to charitable services and the pastoral care of migrants.

5.1. The new forms of international mobility concern both the countries of origin and the receiving countries. Brain drain for the former; difficulties in integration for the latter.

But migrant professionals could act as bridges between the two worlds. They have the experience of being a passageway between the two cultures.

5.2. Even when they decide to become integrated into the country which has received them, migrants often keep their bonds with their country of origin. They come and go. They maintain economic solidarity with their countries of origin.

5.3. The movement of migrants calls upon the Churches of the countries of origin and the Churches of the host countries to form a new relationship of solidarity and fraternity.

5.4. In a new way, concerted action between these churches becomes imperative in the context of these new forms of mobility. Such action could focus on the following points:

• the causes of the migratory movement and
• in relation to these causes, reflection on the measures to be taken to ensure everyone’s right to live in one’s own country
• inform the candidates for emigration regarding the risks involved, the danger of organized criminal networks, of “ferrymen” and the immigration policies in force in the host countries.
• the pastoral care to be set up in the host countries so that the emigrants will open up to their responsibilities toward their countries of origin.

5.5. In the framework of this concerted action, migrants are called upon to become builders of the process of coming closer and of fraternity among the different Churches located in the various geographical zones.

In this perspective, migrants could thus make an active contribution in the service of unity, of which the whole Church must assure the heart of mankind that is undergoing the pains of globalization.

Thus, in a renewed way, the Church can be faithful to the Mission which Christ entrusted to his apostles: that of being his witnesses “up to the ends of the earth”.

Conclusion

When he received the Congress participants, the Holy Father expressed the following hope: “I trust that the analyses carried out during the course of the Congress, the decisions made and the proposals which came forth from it, would be an effective stimulus for those who, in the Church and in society, share in this concern for migrants and refugees”.