Church without frontiers,
Mother to all
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Jesus is “the evangelizer
par excellence and the Gospel in person” (Evangelii Gaudium, 209). His
solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized, invites all
of us to care for the frailest and to recognize his suffering countenance,
especially in the victims of new forms of poverty and slavery. The Lord says:
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was
a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and
you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” (Mt 25:35-36). The mission
of the Church, herself a pilgrim in the world and the Mother of all, is thus to
love Jesus Christ, to adore and love him, particularly in the poorest and most
abandoned; among these are certainly migrants and refugees, who are trying to
escape difficult living conditions and dangers of every kind. For this reason,
the theme for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees is: Church without
frontiers, Mother to all.
The Church opens her arms
to welcome all people, without distinction or limits, in order to proclaim that
“God is love” (1 Jn 4:8,16). After his death and resurrection, Jesus entrusted
to the disciples the mission of being his witnesses and proclaiming the Gospel
of joy and mercy. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples left the Upper Room
with courage and enthusiasm; the strength of the Holy Spirit overcame their
doubts and uncertainties and enabled all to understand the disciples’ preaching
in their own language. From the beginning, the Church has been a mother with a
heart open to the whole world, and has been without borders. This mission has
continued for two thousand years. But even in the first centuries, the
missionary proclamation spoke of the universal motherhood of the Church, which
was then developed in the writings of the Fathers and taken up by the Second
Vatican Council. The Council Fathers spoke of Ecclesia Mater to explain the
Church’s nature. She begets sons and daughters and “takes them in and embraces
them with her love and in her heart” (Lumen Gentium, 14).
The Church without
frontiers, Mother to all, spreads throughout the world a culture of acceptance
and solidarity, in which no one is seen as useless, out of place or disposable.
When living out this motherhood effectively, the Christian community nourishes,
guides and indicates the way, accompanying all with patience, and drawing close
to them through prayer and works of mercy.
Today this takes on a
particular significance. In fact, in an age of such vast movements of
migration, large numbers of people are leaving their homelands, with a suitcase
full of fears and desires, to undertake a hopeful and dangerous trip in search
of more humane living conditions. Often, however, such migration gives rise to
suspicion and hostility, even in ecclesial communities, prior to any knowledge
of the migrants’ lives or their stories of persecution and destitution. In such
cases, suspicion and prejudice conflict with the biblical commandment of
welcoming with respect and solidarity the stranger in need.
On the other hand, we
sense in our conscience the call to touch human misery, and to put into
practice the commandment of love that Jesus left us when he identified himself
with the stranger, with the one who suffers, with all the innocent victims of
violence and exploitation. Because of the weakness of our nature, however, “we
are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s
length” (Evangelii Gaudium, 270).
The courage born of
faith, hope and love enables us to reduce the distances that separate us from
human misery. Jesus Christ is always waiting to be recognized in migrants and
refugees, in displaced persons and in exiles, and through them he calls us to
share our resources, and occasionally to give up something of our acquired
riches. Pope Paul VI spoke of this when he said that “the more fortunate should
renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the
service of others” (Octogesima Adveniens, 23).
The multicultural
character of society today, for that matter, encourages the Church to take on
new commitments of solidarity, communion and evangelization. Migration
movements, in fact, call us to deepen and strengthen the values needed to
guarantee peaceful coexistence between persons and cultures. Achieving mere
tolerance that respects diversity and ways of sharing between different
backgrounds and cultures is not sufficient. This is precisely where the Church
contributes to overcoming frontiers and encouraging the “moving away from
attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalization … towards
attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building
a better, more just and fraternal world” (Message for the World Day of Migrants
and Refugees 2014).
Migration movements,
however, are on such a scale that only a systematic and active cooperation
between States and international organizations can be capable of regulating and
managing such movements effectively. For migration affects everyone, not only
because of the extent of the phenomenon, but also because of “the social,
economic, political, cultural and religious problems it raises, and the
dramatic challenges it poses to nations and the international community”
(Caritas in Veritate, 62).
At the international
level, frequent debates take place regarding the appropriateness, methods and
required norms to deal with the phenomenon of migration. There are agencies and
organizations on the international, national and local level which work
strenuously to serve those seeking a better life through migration.
Notwithstanding their generous and laudable efforts, a more decisive and
constructive action is required, one which relies on a universal network of
cooperation, based on safeguarding the dignity and centrality of every human
person. This will lead to greater effectiveness in the fight against the
shameful and criminal trafficking of human beings, the violation of fundamental
rights, and all forms of violence, oppression and enslavement. Working
together, however, requires reciprocity, joint-action, openness and trust, in
the knowledge that “no country can singlehandedly face the difficulties
associated with this phenomenon, which is now so widespread that it affects
every continent in the twofold movement of immigration and emigration” (Message
for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2014).
It is necessary to
respond to the globalization of migration with the globalization of charity and
cooperation, in such a way as to make the conditions of migrants more humane.
At the same time, greater efforts are needed to guarantee the easing of
conditions, often brought about by war or famine, which compel whole peoples to
leave their native countries.
Solidarity with migrants
and refugees must be accompanied by the courage and creativity necessary to
develop, on a world-wide level, a more just and equitable financial and
economic order, as well as an increasing commitment to peace, the indispensable
condition for all authentic progress.
Dear migrants and
refugees! You have a special place in the heart of the Church, and you help her
to enlarge her heart and to manifest her motherhood towards the entire human
family. Do not lose your faith and hope! Let us think of the Holy Family during
the flight in Egypt: Just as the maternal heart of the Blessed Virgin and the
kind heart of Saint Joseph kept alive the confidence that God would never
abandon them, so in you may the same hope in the Lord never be wanting. I
entrust you to their protection and I cordially impart to all of you my
Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 3
September 2014
FRANCISCUS
