Search

Bishops in Scotland spoke out against the UK bill targeting irregular migration, saying it would cause forceable removal of vulnerable asylum seekers without addressing the need for safe and legal migration pathways. The Bishops called for asylum reform and respect for human dignity.

Humanitarian corridors offer safe, legal, and dignified pathways out of dangerous situations, Pope Francis told refugees and supporting organizations on 18 March. He said this approach to migration, supported by the Italian Episcopal Conference and other groups, “points a way forward for Europe.”

Migrants and refugees are “brothers and sisters,” not a “political problem to be solved,” lead migration Bishop Paul McAleenan stresses in “Love the Stranger,” a new Episcopal publication. The Church has a responsibility towards people on the move, who contribute to their new communities, he says.

Pope Francis’s focus on care for migrants has redefined this ministry as a vocation for Bishop Joseph Mary Kizito. In an ACI Africa interview, the lead migration Bishop in Southern Africa speaks about new understandings of people on the move and the call to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate.

Mexican Bishops have denounced police chasing migrants onto the grounds of Ciudad Juárez cathedral and arresting them in a place of humanitarian assistance. A statement from the Episcopal migrant ministry condemned the police for “using violence to physically and psychologically harm the people.”

During the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis remembered the migrants who died in a shipwreck off Italy on 26 September and appealed for an end to the human trafficking that is taking the lives of many innocent people. “May the journeys of hope never again turn into journeys of death,” he prayed.

European States must take collective responsibility and respond to migration with humanity, the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) said after dozens of migrants died in a shipwreck off the Italian coast. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi called for “a structural, shared, and supportive approach.”

U.S. lead migration Bishop Mark J. Seitz opposed proposed Administration restrictions on asylum-seekers entering the country irregularly, saying the rules would weaken access to international protection and prioritize “heavy-handed enforcement” as a “viable solution to increased migration.”

The U.S. lead migration Bishop has opposed a proposed Administration policy that will deny asylum to migrants entering the country irregularly. “I dream of the day we can set political calculations aside & put in place a safe, humane, welcoming system to receive immigrants,” said Bishop Mark Seitz.

The Irish Episcopal President has asked Catholics in Ireland to remember people on the move, especially those in the Ukraine, during the season of Lent this year. “Let our acts of prayer, charity and fasting, each day, be dedicated to the plight of refugees,” urged Archbishop Eamon Martin.

Latin American Bishops expressed sorrow as part of the Church-led migrant rights network Red Clamor after a bus crash killed 39 migrants in Panama. "We urge the authorities to execute comprehensive national development and migratory policies that put families and human rights as the center.”

The Brazilian Episcopal Commission on human trafficking must listen to the voices of victims, its members concluded after meeting to plan actions for 2023. “It was a meeting of hope,” said Commission head Msgr. Evaristo Pascoal Spengler, including an advocacy visit to the Ministry of Human Rights.

As the Church in the Philippines marked its first national day against human trafficking, Episcopal vice president Bishop Mylo Hubert encouraged Catholics to “walk together” with trafficking victims. He called on the clergy to be “co-journeyers in dignity” in the fight to end the modern-day scourge.