Migration: an opportunity for Church, mankind

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva, says migration should be seen as an opportunity not just for countries but also for the Church, in terms of the new evangelisation. A former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Archbishop Tomasi is also the Permanent Representative to the International Organization for Migration which the Holy See joined last year as a full member state.

The Archbishop spoke to Vatican Radio on the sidelines of a Rome conference entitled “Building Bridges of Opportunity: Migration and Diversity” sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See and the Pontifical North American College.

“There are 250 million people who live and work in a place other than where they were born,” explains Archbishop Tomasi. “The Church looks at migration in a positive and constructive way. It does not see only the immediate problems that emerge when a new community settles in a country with different habits, different cultures, a (different) language that doesn’t facilitate communication.”

“But, in the long run it is well documented that migrations are a benefit for the migrants, for the countries of origin of the migrant and above all, for the country of arrival where they contribute their work, their intelligence, their talents and in the long run they become very productive citizens of these new countries.”

In this interview with Archbishop Tomasi, Tracey McClure asks him how migration can be seen as a positive force for the new evangelisation, what challenges religion can pose to integration and more…

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