CHRISTIANS: ADDRESS IMMIGRATION

VATICAN CITY, NOV 19, 2003 (VIS) - Today is the second day of the fifth World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, which is taking place in Rome from November 17 to 22 and whose theme is, 'Starting afresh from Christ. Towards a renewed pastoral care of migrants and refugees.

'Forced or voluntary immigration,' said Archbishop Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, 'sheds light on the need to carry out a profound transformation of institutions and people, in order to create ' a culture of inclusion and Christian love, which is not folkloric or blind, but genuine, for different cultures ' using the language of dialogue, reciprocal respect and inter-religious and intercultural coexistence.'

Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, recalled that 'just as all human beings have the right to the recognition and respect of their own identity, something which does not exonerate them from their duties towards society, every culture has the right to the recognition of its own identity. It is a right ' which evaluates the culture in the eyes of the whole of society and facilitates its integration into the group of peoples. If it is not respected it becomes ' a source of humiliation, provokes strong vindication and often acquires forms of extreme violence. ' This sad reality at the beginning of the third millennium demonstrates in many regions of the world ' the actuality of this grave problem.'

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, emphasized in his speech that 'among the effects of the growing phenomena of migration and refugees is that of giving life ' to a pluralism of ethnicities, cultures and beliefs. In this way, ' the phenomenon of migration can be a propitious occasion for inter-religious dialogue which is 'one of the greatest challenges of our times'.'
Keys: ;MIGRATION; REFUGEES;...;@ ;VIS;20031119;Word: 340;