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Writing in his Message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees Pope Leo has highlighted how migrants and refugees can become witnesses of hope and tenacity amidst adversity, and has called for a future of peace and respect for human dignity. The Pope underlines that the world is:
"Faced with frightening scenarios and the possibility of global devastation [with] the prospect of a renewed arms race and the development of new armaments, including nuclear weapons, the lack of consideration for the harmful effects of the ongoing climate crisis, and the impact of profound economic inequalities make the challenges of the present and the future increasingly demanding.” Issues that have forced millions to leave their homelands.
The Pope points out that the“widespread tendency” to look at “the interests of limited communities” poses a threat to sharing “responsibility, multilateral cooperation, the pursuit of the common good and global solidarity”. Highlighting that" “it is important there be a growing desire in people’s hearts for a future of peace and of respect for the dignity of all” and that “such a future is essential to God’s plan for humanity and the rest of creation.”
Pope Leo reiterates that migrants and refugees have an important role to play in showing hope in a better future, writing that, for the Catholic Church, “the virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man and woman”; with migrants, refugees and displaced persons “messengers” and “witnesses of hope”. They demonstrate this daily, he says, through their resilience and trust in God as they face adversity, while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible. In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost”, he stresses, “their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes”.
At the same time, Pope Leo explains that communities that welcome migrants and refugees can be “a living witness to hope” as they show “the promise of a present and a future where the dignity of all as children of God is recognised. In this way, migrants and refugees are recognised as brothers and sisters, part of a family in which they can express their talents and participate fully in community life”, he says.
On a spiritual level, the Pope highlights that migrants and refugees also remind the Church “of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying towards her final homeland, sustained by a hope that is a theological virtue”. He encourages the Church and its members to be “God’s people journeying towards the heavenly homeland” and avoid the “temptation of ‘sedentarisation’ and becoming “of the world”.
In this regard, the Pope believesCatholic migrants and refugees have a special mission in becoming “missionaries of hope in the countries that welcome them, forging new paths of faith where the message of Jesus Christ has not yet arrived or initiating interreligious dialogue based on everyday life and the search for common values”.
“This is a true missio migrantium, a mission carried out by migrants, for which adequate preparation and ongoing support must be ensured through effective inter-ecclesial cooperation”, he says.
“With their spiritual enthusiasm and vitality, they can help revitalise ecclesial communities that have become rigid and weighed down, where spiritual desertification is advancing at an alarming rate”, he says. “Their presence, then, should be recognised and appreciated as a true divine blessing, an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God, who gives new energy and hope to His Church”.
