ANGELUS: ITALY CELEBRATES DAY OF THE MIGRANT

VATICAN CITY, NOV 17, 2002 - Before reciting the Angelus today with the faithful gathered below his apartment window overlooking St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul noted that Italy today celebrates the Day of Migrants, adding that this is "an annual appointment that invites the ecclesial and civil communities to reflect on this important and complex social phenomenon."

"We live in an era of profound changes," said the Pope, "that touch persons, ethnic groups and peoples. Even today we note serious inequalities, especially between the north and south of the world. This causes the earth, which is ever more a 'global village', to be unfortunately for some a place of poverty and deprivation, while great wealth is concentrated in the hands of others. In this context, 'the other one' risks being considered a competitor, all the more so if they are 'different' in language, nationality and culture."

The Holy Father added that "for this reason it is important to spread a spirit of welcoming, translated into social behavior of attention, especially towards the needy. ... I hope that families, associations and the ecclesial and civil communities will become ever more places of hospitality, civil coexistence and fertile dialogue. May immigrants, for their part, know how to respect the law of the State that welcomes them and thus contribute to a better insertion in the new social context."

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