Pope’s Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2012

October 25, 2011: The Pope Benedict XVI has chosen “Migration and the New Evangelization” as the theme for the 98th World Day of Migrants and Refugees to be celebrated on 15 June 2012. The present time calls upon the Church to intensify her missionary activity both in the regions where the Gospel is proclaimed for the first time and in countries with a Christian tradition. ‘Proclaiming Jesus Christ the one Saviour of the world “constitutes the essential mission of the Church. Today we feel the urgent need to give a fresh impetus and new approaches to the work of evangelization in a world in which the breaking down of frontiers and the new processes of globalization are bringing individuals and peoples even closer’, said the Pope, in his message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2012.
‘In this new situation we must reawaken in each one of us the enthusiasm and courage that motivated the first Christian communities to be undaunted heralds of the Gospel’s newness.’ Pastoral workers – priests, religious and lay people – play a crucial role in the demanding itinerary of the new evangelization in the context of migration, the Pontiff added.
Internal or international migration, in search of better living conditions or to flee from the threat of persecution, war and violence, has led to an unprecedented mingling of individuals and peoples, with new problems not only from the human standpoint but also from ethical, religious and spiritual ones. The consequences of secularization, the emergence of new sectarian movements, widespread insensitivity to the Christian faith and a marked tendency to fragmentation are obstacles to focusing on a unifying reference that would encourage the formation of “one family of brothers and sisters in societies’.
Many a migrants who welcomed Christ are no longer recognize themselves as members of the Church, and often lead a life no longer marked by Christ and his Gospel. Here the Church is faced with the challenge of helping migrants keep their faith firm even when they are deprived of the cultural support that existed in their country of origin, and of identifying new pastoral approaches, as well as methods and expressions, for an ever vital reception of the Word of God, the Pope said.
The press and the other media have an important role in making known, correctly, objectively and honestly, the situation of those who have been forced to leave their homeland and their loved ones and want to start building a new life. Christian communities are to pay special attention to migrant workers and their families by accompanying them with prayer, solidarity and Christian charity, as well as by fostering new political, economic and social planning that promotes respect for the dignity of every human person, the Pope added.
World Day of Migrants and Refugees was instituted by Pope Pius X in 1914.