Church in Luxembourg welcomes two families of migrants from Lesbos

By Giada Aquilino- Vatican City

The concern of the Church for migrants, especially those who are refugees in Lesbos, has the face of two families of refugees who arrived Tuesday at Luxembourg’s airport. Eight of them, adults and children, all from camps on the Greek island, will be taken care of by the archdiocese led by the new Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.

In May the mission in Lesbos

Last May, following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, a Vatican delegation to Lesbos was led by Cardinal Hollerich and the Papal Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski with the support of the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Department of Dicastery of Integral and Human Development. They brought with them the Pontiff's solidarity to the migrants of the island, in that area of the sea that separates Greece from Turkey: six months ago there were 7,000, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, Kuwaitis, and North Africans.

Kuwait and Syria, the countries of origin

Now, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which has just over 600,000 inhabitants, has welcomed two families to the headquarters of the archdiocese, thanks to a humanitarian corridor and the collaboration of the Church and Greek and local authorities.

After arriving at Luxembourg airport, the Arabic-speaking families, one from Kuwait with two children aged 8 and 5 and one from Syria with twins aged almost two years, were hosted at a welcome lunch at Cardinal Hollerich's residence, before being transferred for a period of 10-12 days to a refugee centre. While there, medical and administrative formalities required by the Luxembourg authorities will be carried out. Then they will go to their accommodation and for two years, their needs will be provided for by the Luxembourg Catholic Church.

People of good will

During the mission in Lesbos, it was the Archbishop of Luxembourg who joined Cardinal Krajeswski in exhorting European countries to show concrete solidarity and "active charity": "when people suffer and lose hope people of good will must react", he told Vatican News. Six months have now passed and Cardinal Hollerich’s wish has been transformed into a concrete commitment to those who will always carry with them stories of war, suffering and poverty, but who now have the opportunity open a new chapter in their lives.