VATICAN CITY (CNS): With no sign that globalisation and migration will slow down, the future of most societies clearly depends on effectively welcoming and integrating migrants and refugees, Pope Benedict XVI said.
“The future of our societies rests on the encounter between peoples (and) on dialogue between cultures with respect for identities and legitimate differences,” the Pope said on May 28 during a meeting with participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers.
The assembly focused on the shared responsibilities nations and international organisations have toward travellers, migrants and refugees.
Pope Benedict praised the efforts of organisations and international bodies to build a world marked by peace, fraternity and co-operation while simultaneously striving “to resolve the crucial questions of security and development to the benefit of all”.
But some parts of the world have been avoiding “the assumption of responsibilities that should be shared” when it comes to migration policies and assisting refugees, he said.
“The desire of many people to knock down walls that divide and to establish broad-based agreements promoting integration has still not been fulfilled,” he said.
Some of the ways states and organisations can promote social stability and harmony, he said, were by creating policies or plans that helped welcome and integrate foreigners, gave them “opportunities to obtain legal status, promoting the fair rights to family reunification, asylum and refugee status, compensating for necessary restrictive measures and opposing the appalling trafficking of human beings”.
The Pope said migration policies that recognised the key importance of the family and its stability were an essential part of respecting the rights of migrants and promoting their integration in a new country.
