One human family includes migrants and refugees, says Pope

On Tuesday Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the upcoming World Day for Migrants and Refugees (16 January 2011) was published. The theme chosen by the Holy Father this year is “One human family”. He writes that refugees and forced migrants must always be considered as part of the human family. “The International Community” adds Pope Benedict “has taken on precise commitments for these people who flee from violence and persecution”. “Respect of their rights, as well as the legitimate concern for security and social coherence, foster a stable and harmonious coexistence”.

The Pope says that the road we all travel on is the same, “that of life”, but “the situations that we pass through on this route are different: many people have to face the difficult experience of migration in its various forms: internal or international, permanent or seasonal, economic or political, voluntary or forced”.

He adds that in many cases people leave their country because of different forms of persecution. “Moreover, the phenomenon of globalization itself is not only a social and economic process, but also entails “humanity itself”…crossing geographical and cultural boundaries”.

Quoting his predecessor John Paul II, Pope Benedict emphasized that “[the universal common good] includes the whole family of peoples, beyond every nationalistic egoism. The right to emigrate must be considered in this context”.

“At the same time”, he concluded “States have the right to regulate migration flows and to defend their own frontiers, always guaranteeing the respect due to the dignity of each and every human person”. While “immigrants have the duty to integrate into the host Country, respecting its laws and its national identity”.

Text in full: Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The World Day of Migrants and Refugees offers the whole Church an opportunity to reflect
on a theme linked to the growing phenomenon of migration, to pray that hearts may open to
Christian welcome and to the effort to increase in the world justice and charity, pillars on which
to build an authentic and lasting peace. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one
another” (Jn 13:34), is the invitation that the Lord forcefully addresses to us and renews us
constantly: if the Father calls us to be beloved children in his dearly beloved Son, he also calls
us to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
This profound link between all human beings is the origin of the theme that I have chosen
for our reflection this year: “One human family”, one family of brothers and sisters in societies
that are becoming ever more multiethnic and intercultural, where also people of various religions
are urged to take part in dialogue, so that a serene and fruitful coexistence with respect for
legitimate differences may be found. The Second Vatican Council affirms that “All peoples are
one community and have one origin, because God caused the whole human race to dwell on the
face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26); they also have one final end, God” (Message for the World Day
of Peace, 2008, 1). “His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend
to all men” (Declaration Nostra aetate, 1). Thus, “We do not live alongside one another purely
by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as
brothers and sisters” (Message for the World Day of Peace, 2008, 6).
The road is the same, that of life, but the situations that we pass through on this route are
different: many people have to face the difficult experience of migration in its various forms:
internal or international, permanent or seasonal, economic or political, voluntary or forced. In
various cases the departure from their Country is motivated by different forms of persecution,
so that escape becomes necessary. Moreover, the phenomenon of globalization itself,
characteristic of our epoch, is not only a social and economic process, but also entails “humanity
itself [that] is becoming increasingly interconnected”, crossing geographical and cultural
boundaries. In this regard, the Church does not cease to recall that the deep sense of this epochal
process and its fundamental ethical criterion are given by the unity of the human family and its
development towards what is good (cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical Caritas in veritate, 42). All,
therefore, belong to one family, migrants and the local populations that welcome them, and all
have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal, as the social
doctrine of the Church teaches. It is here that solidarity and sharing are founded.
“In an increasingly globalized society, the common good and the effort to obtain it cannot
fail to assume the dimensions of the whole human family, that is to say, the community of
peoples and nations, in such a way as to shape the earthly city in unity and peace, rendering it
to some degree an anticipation and a prefiguration of the undivided city of God” (Benedict XVI,
Encyclical Caritas in veritate, 7). This is also the perspective with which to look at the reality
of migration. In fact, as the Servant of God Paul VI formerly noted, “the weakening of brotherly
ties between individuals and nations” (Encyclical Populorum progressio, 66), is a profound
cause of underdevelopment and – we may add – has a major impact on the migration
phenomenon. Human brotherhood is the, at times surprising, experience of a relationship that
unites, of a profound bond with the other, different from me, based on the simple fact of being
human beings. Assumed and lived responsibly, it fosters a life of communion and sharing with
all and in particular with migrants; it supports the gift of self to others, for their good, for the
good of all, in the local, national and world political communities.
Venerable John Paul II, on the occasion of this same Day celebrated in 2001, emphasized
that “[the universal common good] includes the whole family of peoples, beyond every
nationalistic egoism. The right to emigrate must be considered in this context. The Church
recognizes this right in every human person, in its dual aspect of the possibility to leave one’s
country and the possibility to enter another country to look for better conditions of life”
(Message for World Day of Migration 2001, 3; cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Mater et Magistra,
30; Paul VI, Encyclical Octogesima adveniens, 17). At the same time, States have the right to
regulate migration flows and to defend their own frontiers, always guaranteeing the respect due
to the dignity of each and every human person. Immigrants, moreover, have the duty to integrate
into the host Country, respecting its laws and its national identity. “The challenge is to combine
the welcome due to every human being, especially when in need, with a reckoning of what is
necessary for both the local inhabitants and the new arrivals to live a dignified and peaceful life”
(World Day of Peace 2001, 13).
In this context, the presence of the Church, as the People of God journeying through history
among all the other peoples, is a source of trust and hope. Indeed the Church is “in Christ like
a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the
unity of the whole human race” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution
Lumen gentium, 1); and through the action within her of the Holy Spirit, “the effort to establish
a universal brotherhood is not a hopeless one” (Idem, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 38).
It is the Holy Eucharist in particular that constitutes, in the heart of the Church, an inexhaustible
source of communion for the whole of humanity. It is thanks to this that the People of God
includes “every nation, race, people, and tongue” (Rev 7:9), not with a sort of sacred power but
with the superior service of charity. In fact the exercise of charity, especially for the poorest and
weakest, is the criterion that proves the authenticity of the Eucharistic celebration (cf. John Paul
II, Apostolic Letter Mane nobiscum Domine, 28).
The situation of refugees and of the other forced migrants, who are an important part of the
migration phenomenon, should be specifically considered in the light of the theme “One human
family”. For these people who flee from violence and persecution the International Community
has taken on precise commitments. Respect of their rights, as well as the legitimate concern for
security and social coherence, foster a stable and harmonious coexistence.
Also in the case of those who are forced to migrate, solidarity is nourished by the “reserve”
of love that is born from considering ourselves a single human family and, for the Catholic
faithful, members of the Mystical Body of Christ: in fact we find ourselves depending on each
other, all responsible for our brothers and sisters in humanity and, for those who believe, in the
faith. As I have already had the opportunity to say, “Welcoming refugees and giving them
hospitality is for everyone an imperative gesture of human solidarity, so that they may not feel
isolated because of intolerance and disinterest” (General Audience, 20 June 2007: Insegnamenti
II, 1 [2007], 1158). This means that those who are forced to leave their homes or their country
will be helped to find a place where they may live in peace and safety, where they may work and
take on the rights and duties that exist in the Country that welcomes them, contributing to the
common good and without forgetting the religious dimension of life.
Lastly, I would like to address a special thought, again accompanied by prayer, to the foreign
and international students who are also a growing reality within the great migration phenomenon.
This, as well, is a socially important category with a view to their return, as future leaders, to
their Countries of origin. They constitute cultural and economic “bridges” between these
Countries and the host Countries, and all this goes precisely in the direction of forming “one
human family”. This is the conviction that must support the commitment to foreign students and
must accompany attention to their practical problems, such as financial difficulties or the
hardship of feeling alone in facing a very different social and university context, as well as the
difficulties of integration. In this regard, I would like to recall that “to belong to a university
community… is to stand at the crossroads of the cultures that have formed the modern world”
(John Paul II, To the Bishops of the United States of America of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of
Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee on their ad limina visit, 30 May 1998, 6: Insegnamenti
XXI, 1 [1998] 1116). At school and at university the culture of the new generations is formed:
their capacity to see humanity as a family called to be united in diversity largely depends on
these institutions.
Dear brothers and sisters, the world of migrants is vast and diversified. It knows wonderful
and promising experiences, as well as, unfortunately, so many others that are tragic and
unworthy of the human being and of societies that claim to be civil. For the Church this reality
constitutes an eloquent sign of our times which further highlights humanity’s vocation to form
one family, and, at the same time, the difficulties which, instead of uniting it, divide it and tear
it apart. Let us not lose hope and let us together pray God, the Father of all, to help us – each in
the first person – to be men and women capable of brotherly relationships and, at the social,
political and institutional levels, so that understanding and reciprocal esteem among peoples and
cultures may increase. With these hopes, as I invoke the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Stella
Maris, I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing to all and, especially, to migrants and refugees
and to everyone who works in this important field.
From Castel Gandolfo, 27 September 2010
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI