Pope Francis: Migrants ask us to cultivate ‘dream of fraternity’
Pope Francis
Since the beginning of my pontificate, I have dedicated special attention to the plight of migrants, one of the signs of the times of this historical era. On my first apostolic journey I went to Lampedusa, a symbolic place of shipwrecks and of welcome, and there I emphasised the central point of the question:
"Where is your brother?" His blood cries out to me, says the Lord. This is not a question directed to others; it is a question directed to me, to you, to each of us.
Indeed, the plight of migrants challenges our deepest identity: it is a question of choosing whether or not to be truly brothers and sisters. I reiterated this at the meeting of Mediterranean bishops and young people in Marseille on 22 September 2023:
We too are at a crossroads: on the one hand, there is fraternity, which makes the human community flourish with goodness; on the other, indifference, which bloodies the Mediterranean. We find ourselves at a crossroads of civilization. Either the culture of humanity and fraternity or the culture of indifference: let everyone fend for himself or herself.
Over the years I have repeatedly met migrants whose stories encapsulated the stories of so many like them: some of these encounters, like those with Bentolo and Pato, are recounted in this book. By meeting them, I wanted to emphasise that they are truly brothers and sisters and to help us rediscover universal fraternity. Those who practise welcoming hospitality know that friendship with the poor is salvific, because through them, the beloved brothers and sisters of Jesus, we have a special experience of Jesus’ love and rediscover the beauty of also being part of this great fraternity. I reiterated this by addressing migrants directly:
Though treated as a burden, a problem, a cost, you are really a gift. You are witnesses to how our kind and merciful God can transform the evil and injustice which you suffer into a good for all. For every one of you can be a bridge that unites distant peoples, that makes possible the encounter between diverse cultures and religions, a way to rediscover our common humanity.
Fraternity is a cry: the migrants who knock on our doors carry this cry within them: they ask to be recognised as brothers and sisters, to walk together. Relief and welcome are not just essential humanitarian gestures, they are gestures that give flesh to fraternity and build civilisation. Several times I have publicly expressed my gratitude to Mediterranea Saving Humans and to all the organisations that practise relief and welcome. I am also grateful to the faithful, the consecrated men and women, and the bishops who accompany them in various ways. The Church accompanies this journey because it is the Gospel that demands it: the Church has no alternative; if it does not follow Jesus if it does not love as Jesus loves, it loses the very meaning of its being. Giving flesh to universal fraternity is the dream that God has entrusted to us since the beginning of creation: everyone who participates in this mission collaborates in God’s dream. Among the realities that give flesh to fraternity in a special way are the popular movements, which are also mentioned in this book. I got to know the popular movements when I was archbishop of Buenos Aires: I found in them what I later called the ‘mysticism of the popular movements’; that is, that visceral compassion that becomes community action and leads the poor to take each other by the hand, to organise themselves, to fight together and to build another society together. In Buenos Aires, accompanying popular movements, I realised that
They may be troublesome, and certain ‘theorists’ may find it hard to classify them, yet we must find the courage to acknowledge that, without them, ‘democracy atrophies, turns into a mere word, a formality; it loses its representative character and becomes disembodied, since it leaves out the people in their daily struggle for dignity, in the building of their future’.
In recent years, I have participated in the four world meetings of Popular Movements and their regional meetings and invited the Church to accompany them:
to see the Church opening her doors to all of you, embracing you, accompanying you and establishing in each diocese, in every justice and peace commission, genuine, ongoing and serious cooperation with popular movements. I ask everyone, bishops, priests and laity, as well as the social organizations of the urban and rural peripheries, to deepen this encounter.
The dream of fraternity, which migrants ask us to cultivate and which I have placed at the heart of my pontificate, is God’s dream; and the Church has always promoted it, relaunching it strongly since the Second Vatican Council and the pontificate of Saint John XXIII. I would like to conclude the preface to this book by quoting the words of his own personal secretary, Msgr Loris Capovilla, whom I created cardinal in 2014 and who is mentioned in this book. When he turned 100, on 14 October 2015, he chose to celebrate with some migrants. Embracing one of them, Issa, who came from Mali, a Muslim, he said these words:
Issa, may God bless you. [...] There is only one human family, I am a citizen of the world, like you, dear Issa. Only I have now finished my race and you are beginning it. Make your contribution to the civilisation of love, because there is no other, there is no civilisation of technology, power, or weapons. My Christian brothers and sisters are dear to me, I know, but so are all the men and women of this world. I am happy to have lived in this world. In the memory of my whole life, I have never seen a person I dislike, a country I dislike. Everything in creation is a gift from God. In each of us, there is something good. If each of us is good I am happy; but if he is not good, he is still my brother, I love him. I hold him by the hand and we walk together towards the civilisation of love. [...] In communion with the men and women of goodwill belonging to all nations, I intermingle as a friend, and I feel that, indeed, with the contribution of thousands of women and men of every race, we walk towards the fullest unity of the human family; one Father, one Redeemer, one most holy Mother, one universal Shepherd, one gaze towards the eternal heavens.
To become capable of loving in this way is the prayer I address to Jesus for every person living in this world.
From the Vatican, 3 July 2024
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