JUNE 1 - 3: JUBILEE OF MIGRANTS AND ITINERANT PEOPLE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 2000 (VIS) - Today in the Holy See Press Office, Archbishops Stephen Fumio Hamao and Francesco Gioia, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, presented the Jubilee for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples which will be held in Rome from June 1 to 3.

Archbishop Fumio Hamao outlined the program for the event. The first day will be dedicated to catechesis on the signs and values of the Jubilee. "Participants," he said, "are distinguished not just by categories (migrants, refugees, nomads, seafarers, students abroad, tourists, circus people and airline workers) but also, as far as possible, by their ethnicity and places of origin." In the afternoon of the same day, there will be time for confessions and, at 8 p.m. in the Paul VI Hall, a concert will be held in honor of the migrants and itinerant people.

In St. Peter's Square on Friday June 2, the Pope will preside at a concelebrated Mass. On Saturday June 3, initiatives from the various groups will be presented.

Archbishop Gioia presented a small book written in Italian and English entitled "The Solidarity of the Church with Migrants and itinerant People." The volume offers, in addition to some statistics, a brief overview on problems and on pastoral activity in each of the sectors that concern human mobility.

By way of example, Archbishop Gioia indicated that "migratory flows affect all continents and almost all countries. There are 119 million emigrants in the world, of whom 44 percent are in the industrialized countries and 56 percent in developing countries." There are 15 million in Africa, 43 million in Asia, 7 million in Latin America, 24 million in North America, 25 million in Europe and 5 million in Oceania.

Refugees and those who remain under the mandate of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees reach a total of 22 million, most of them women and children.

The secretary of the Pontifical Council also recalled that in 1999, the number of international tourists, in other words people travelling abroad for pleasure, had reached 657 million.

Finally he mentioned gypsies, whose numbers stand at 15-18 million; between 7 and 8.5 million in Europe, 7-8 million in India and southeast Asia and 1.7 million in U.S.A. and South America.

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