“This situation is only possible coming from a cultural mindset of white people believing that they are the center of the universe and can do whatever they please, at any cost, disregarding all international law”
“It is a violation of human rights to force people to be in a concentration camp”, denounces Marie Doutrepont, who has witnessed first-hand the “shame of Europe” on Lesbos
Archbishop emeritus of Tanger Santiago Agrelo suggests Church pray: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, anointed and sent to evangelise the poor, the communion of saints…”
“Let’s welcome migrants with humanity, fraternity and solidarity. Let’s give them a place at our table”, said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of COMECE, on the eve of the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated on Sunday 27 September 2020.
At the Angelus today, Pope Francis called for “constructive dialogue and respect for international law” to resolve the conflict in the eastern Mediterranean. Though the pontiff did not mention Greece and Turkey explicitly, those countries have been clashing over gas and oil deposits in the region that both nations claim lie in their waters.
The director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Italy has denounced that migrants are “discarded” and “forgotten” because they are not consumers.
An Italian bishop has decried the “genocide” of migrants and refugees drowning in the Mediterranean.
The rescue ship Sea-Watch 4, purchased by a crowdfund led by the Evangelical Church in Germany, is ready to start operating in the Mediterranean Sea to help migrants attempting to reach Europe from North Africa.
Yesterday July 30 a new temporary mission of the Scalabrinian Missionary Sisters left to tend to the refugees on Lesbos.
The document that has just been published by the Church in Malta, entitled One Church. One Journey. A Process of Ecclesial Renewal 2020-2024, underlines a strong commitment to the promotion of human life and dignity.
Church relief and development agency Caritas Europa is pushing the EU to honour its commitment to resettle 30,000 refugees in 2020, warning that now “more than ever” in the context of COVID-19 “we need global solidarity towards those fleeing war, crisis and persecution”.
Austrian Catholics have suggested welcoming more refugees in the country in “gratitude” for the nation escaping the worst of COVID-19.
“The pandemic should not be an excuse to let human beings die in the Mediterranean Sea”, the General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Fr Manuel Barrio Prieto, has cried.
“How can we call ourselves Christians and then leave people drowning at sea?”, Catholics from Malta have asked the government.
COMECE calls EU members states to show generosity in accepting the relocation of asylum seekers from Greek islands.
The Bishops of Malta have asked the Vatican to “intervene” with the EU to relieve the “huge pressures” on that country’s reception and asylum system.
Saving the lives of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean “is a moral imperative that can neither be negotiated nor renounced”, the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, has warned.
Maltese and Italian Catholics have ripped the closure of ports in the two countries to refugees rescued in the Mediterranean
“I’m always available to lend a hand. Count on me”, Pope Francis has written to Mediterranean refugee rescuers.
In the face of hatred, fear, and division, Pope Francis called Sunday on the Christian communities of the Mediterranean to recognise the inherent unity of the region’s multiculturalism.
The German Churches have christened their ship for refugee rescue in the Mediterranean, justifying their actions by saying that “when people drown, we have to help”.
At the invitation of the Italian Episcopal Conference, various leaders of the Churches of the Mediterranean region have been meeting in Bari, Italy this past week. Pope Francis joined them on Sunday morning and offered words of encouragement and vision.
From their Bari synod, the bishops of the Mediterranean have denounced that European “economic interests” in the region “do not always reflect evangelical principles”.
On the first day of their Bari ‘synod’ Wednesday, 60 bishops from 20 countries around the Mediterranean deplored the “economic and interested wall” dividing the countries around that sea.
A Spanish-Moroccan cardinal has blasted Europe for holding to a “nearsighted, selfish, individualistic and unfair” migration policy.
A Vatican and an Italian cardinal are looking forward to the Bari ‘synod’ that begins today with bishops from all around the ‘Mare Nostrum’ as the start of a “great Mediterranean spring”.
Libya has been at war for almost nine years: government versus militias, both supported by foreign powers. The “Berlin Conference” in mid-January wanted to make a breakthrough. But the most important agreements didn’t even last a week.
Greece “is struggling but it is also determined to break the shackles of an economic and financial crisis that brought it to its knees”, the Catholic Archbishop of Athens has affirmed.
“The Mediterranean has forgotten its vocation to hospitality”, the Vicar Apostolic in Turkey has lamented.
Newly-announced papal trips will denounce the dumping of toxic waste in Italy and the plight of migrants in Malta.