Prelate Stresses Needs of Homeless

(October 20,2010) The president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers is underlining the needs of the homeless and calling for greater strategies of pastoral care for them. Archbishop Antonio Maria Velgiò made this appeal in a message sent for the first integrated meeting on the Pastoral Care of the Road/Street for the continents of Asia and Oceania, which began Tuesday in Bangkok. This meeting, which lasts through Saturday, is being organized by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers as the third in a series on this topic. The first meeting of its kind took place in 2008 in Bogota, Colombia, to consider pastoral care in Latin America. The second, which was held in Rome, last year, focused on Europe. Next year, a fourth meeting will be held to study the specific needs of Africa and Madagascar. This meeting in Bangkok, which is gathering 55 participants from 18 countries, was organized in collaboration with the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. Archbishop Velgiò was unable to be present in Bangkok as he is currently participating in the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, which runs through Sunday in Rome. In his opening message, which was read to the meeting participants, he noted that the event "bears witness to the existence and the variety of ecclesial response to the poor and the needy in Asia and Oceania." He affirmed that ours is a mission to evangelize, a mission to educate, a mission to liberate. "As you travel through these next days," he told the meeting participants, "essential will be the sharing of good-practice, both in structures and pastoral application without loosing sight of the deep Christological dimension in all that you do." The archbishop expressed the hope that this meeting will "promote understanding and education amongst all motorists of road ethics and safe driving" and "encourage pastoral care required by them.”