In a message to the 2nd Holy See-Mexico Conference on International Migration held recently, Pope Francis said migrants are people who can enrich the society that welcomes them. The Pope’s message was read out by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, at the event in the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Pope Francis encouraged participants in their efforts “to ground responsibility for the shared global management of international migration in the values of justice, solidarity, and compassion.” He said a change of mindset is required to see migrants as a benefit to society. “We must move from considering others as threats to our comfort to valuing them as persons whose life experience and values can contribute greatly to the enrichment of our society,” he said. He told the conference that the main issue surrounding migration is not one of numbers, but of persons, who have their own culture and aspirations. “These persons, our brothers and sisters,” he said, “need ‘ongoing protection’, independently of whatever migrant status they may have.”
(Extracted from vaticannews.va)
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