This new appeal, made August 28 in St Peter's Square, comes the day after the Italian Ministry of the Interior released statistics showing a 65% decrease in the number of illegal migrants entering the country compared to 2023 (40,138, down from 113,469 last year).

While the pope made no direct reference to these figures or the restrictive immigration policy pursued by Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, he strongly condemned "those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants." "This, when done with awareness and responsibility, is a grave sin," said Francis, quoting a verse from the Book of Exodus (22:20): "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him."

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"I condemn the appalling violence over the past week, especially that directed at migrants and their places of residence," said Bishop McAleenan. "They demonstrate a complete disregard of the values which underpin the civil life of our country."

He went on to praise charities, faith groups and volunteers who work in the community to welcome migrants and refugees:

"Today, and always, we need to continue to pray, work and stand together for peace in our country. The actions of the few involved in violence stands in stark contrast to the work of charities, church groups and volunteers who tirelessly extend the hand of welcome to migrants in acts of solidarity. We hope and pray that they will re-double their efforts so that we can rebuild communities after the terrible events of the last few days."

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In Wellington that is, during the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania (FCBCO) meeting.

Catholic Archbishop of Wellington Paul Martin and the Wellington Archdiocese hosted the three-day meeting.

In recent decades migration has become the key to the vast and diverse Oceania region's economy and sustainability.

"We heard the call of the vulnerable in our region... in search of work, or to escape the impacts of domestic challenges such as rising sea levels" the FCBCO says.

"How we provide pastoral care for those affected peoples emerged as a core theme in our prayer and reflection, and we will continue to dialogue as we move forward."

Pope agrees

Pope Francis is well-known for speaking out for migrants and refugees.

The Vatican has released an advance message from Francis before September's 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

In it, the Pope reminds us "it is possible to see in the migrants of our time, as in those of every age, a living image of God's people on their way to the eternal homeland".

The images of migrants and the biblical exodus share several similarities, he notes.

Like the people of Israel in the time of Moses, migrants often flee from oppression, abuse, insecurity, discrimination and lack of opportunities for development.

Migrants encounter many obstacles in their path - they are tried by thirst and hunger, they are exhausted by toil and disease, they are tempted by despair the Pope says.

"Emphasing the synodal dimension allows the Church to rediscover its itinerant nature, as the People of God journeying through history on pilgrimage, "migrating", we could say, toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yet the fundamental reality of the Exodus, of every exodus, is that God precedes and accompanies his people and all his children in every time and place, Francis says.

Asylum seekers back on Nauru

Asylum seekers in the Pacific and Oceania region risk much for little return.

Australian officials report that the number of asylum seekers on Nauru has topped 100, after two groups of 37 people were sent to join those already on the Pacific Island. All are adults, just one is female.

Australia's policy of deterrence against asylum seekers' boats is under strain, with three boats of migrants arriving in a single week in May.

These "unauthorised maritime arrivals" are never allowed to settle in Australia, even if they are deemed to be owed protection under refugee conventions.

Source

• The Guardian
• Holy See Press Office
• Catholic Culture
• Catholic News Agency
• Supplied - Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay

Nyimbilo, known as "Pato," sobbed Nov 17 as he shared the story of his family being forced to leave Tunisia, crossing the desert to Libya on foot. He collapsed but urged his wife and daughter to continue.

He eventually made it to Libya, but then he saw photos on social media of his wife and child dead in the desert, according to a report in July by the Associated Press. Libyan border guards said they found a dozen migrants dead in the desert after Tunisia expelled them.

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The Holy Father warned that when we allow fears and doubts to "condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even - racist" - there is a serious problem.

For "in this way, fear deprives us of the desire and the ability to encounter the other, the person different from myself; it deprives me of an opportunity to encounter the Lord."

This wonderful idea of actually encountering the Lord, and all others, is one of Pope Francis' major themes. He is trying to inspire us to build not personal walls, nor national walls, but instead a "culture of encounter."

There are many lies that have been spread about migrants and refugees; lies that they are murderers, rapists and criminals of all sorts. But numerous studies point to the contrary.

The vast majority are good decent human beings who pay taxes while enjoying virtually no benefits.

They working at jobs most citizens will not do - like the back-breaking work of picking our vegetables and fruit, washing dishes and landscaping.

Furthermore, they add fresh vitality to our towns, cities and parishes.

They need us and we need them!

This is what Pope Francis' "culture of encounter" is all about.

"The progress of our peoples" said the pope "depends above all on our openness to being touched and moved by those who knock at our door. Their faces shatter and debunk all those false idols that can take over and enslave our lives; idols that promise an illusory and momentary happiness blind to the lives and sufferings of others."

Instead of building Pope Francis' welcoming "culture of encounter," several European countries including Bulgaria, Hungry, Slovenia, Macedonia, Austria and France (funded by the U.K.) have built barriers to keep out people who are fleeing armed conflicts and terrible poverty.

And in the U.S., the Trump administration's determination to lengthen the wall at the Mexican border and his policy of "zero-tolerance" - stepped-up apprehension and detention of migrants/refugees often fleeing armed conflict and drug gang violence, mass assembly-line criminal court trials, jail sentences and deportation back to the violence refugees were fleeing - is causing untold suffering.

I have been to the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona, and have touched "The Wall" - the approximately 25 foot high steel barrier blocking Mexicans from entering the U.S.

It looks and feels unholy.

Thousands of refugees and migrants have died trying to walk far around the wall and through the unforgiving Arizona Sonoran desert.

Joanna Williams, director of education and advocacy for the Catholic-run Kino Border Initiative, located near the border in Nogales, Mexico, told me asylum seekers are turned back when they seek to turn themselves into Customs and Border Protection at U.S. ports of entry, and have to wait for many weeks or months before they have the opportunity to even ask for asylum.

Please prayerfully read the Holy Father's World Day of Migrants and Refugees message.

It will very likely inspire you to stand against the meanness - and stand with our desperate brothers and sisters who are knocking at our nations' doors begging for Christian kindness.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

At a congressional hearing Clay Higgins, a member of the US House of Representatives asked Bishop Mark Seitz how this wall differed from the US border wall. Read more

They include Burmese Muslim, Rohingya from Myanmar, Palestinians from Syria, Afghan Dari speakers, Karen from Myanmar, South Sudanese and Bhutanese Nepali.

The centre trains over 100 volunteers to work in teams to support the new families for between three and six months.

Many volunteers return for second, third and sometimes more placements.

Others beaver away in the background doing a variety of tasks.

There are:

• The set-up team of five volunteers who sort the household goods
• The St Vincent de Paul Society who have for many years provided food parcels for new families
• The "Flower Lady," an elderly volunteer who provides flowers for adults on their arrival
• The Toy Sorters who co-ordinate toy boxes for the children

There is now a strong and well-supported community of former refugees settled into Palmerston North, making it a good place for family sponsors to welcome their relatives.

The Manawatu Reuniting Refugee Families Trust was set up early in 2017 to help former refugee families.

It covers the Central Districts areas of Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatu.

The Trust has been fundraising and making themselves known to the community of former refugees and their supporters.

It has provided financial assistance to bring one family to New Zealand and has accepted applications from three more families.

But the Trust needs more money before it can accept any further applications.

The costs of sponsoring family members vary - for example, a family of four with airfares from Afghanistan plus medical fees can be as much as $12,000.

To donate to the Manawatu Reuniting Refugee Families Trust, go online to: givealittle.co.nz/org/manawaturrft

Source

• wn.catholic.org.nz/Mary Nash, Manawatu Reuniting Refugee Families Trust.
• Image: givealittle.co.nz/org/manawaturrft

Father Edward Staniek was evidently reacting to Francis's call for Catholics to take in Muslim refugees because it was their Christian duty.

"I pray for the Pope in his wisdom to open his heart to the Holy Spirit, but if he does not, I pray for his quick departure to his Father's house," Staniek is reported to have said.

"I can always ask God for a happy death for him because a happy death is a great grace."

Staniek went on to say Francis misinterprets the notion of Christian mercy, especially regarding migrants and refugees.

"In the name of mercy, he calls parishes and dioceses to open the door for the followers of Islam."

Staniek's homily went on to note what he described as the hostility Islamic faithful have shown to the Church and the Gospel. He also claimed Muslims "murdered millions in religious wars.

"And we Poles, remembering the victory over their armies near Vienna, understand better than others that there is no way to talk about dialogue with them."

He also said the Pope's teaching regarding Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics was too vague and was being misconstrued by the media.

Staniek went on to question Francis's direction and purpose and said Francis is a "foreign body" in the Church.

He suggested Francis does not "listen to Jesus from Mount Tabor, [so] he does not participate in His authority.

"The Church of Christ is not built on power. It is built on authority.

"The one who values power above authority is the foreign body in the Church of Jesus. Let us listen to Jesus, just as His Father on Mount Tabor recommended us."

After details of the sermon became widespread, Staniek was called to see the Archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jedraszewski.

Although Jedraszewski said he had heard the news about the priest's comments about Pope Francis with "great pain and regret," it is not known if Staniek will be punished or sanctioned.

Source

• The Telegraph
• The Catholic Herald
• Image: Catholic Herald

He said their story shows us the power of people's everyday humanity and decency. "These men highlight an important story that has been missed by many."

The two Manusian men, Father Clement Taulam and Michael Kuweh, have defied the Papua New Guinea and Australian governments by calling for assistance for the refugees and asylum seekers on Manus.

Speaking at his Papitalai parish church on Los Negros Island across a small bay from the detention centre, Taulam said the enforced shutdown of the centre had left people vulnerable and suffering.

Over years of pastoral care, he has built up friendships with many of those in the centre, he told the Guardian and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Kuweh spent decades in the PNG military, rising from an enlisted rank to become a senior officer. He trained and served alongside Australian troops for years.

He said Manusians were famously hospitable and had welcomed West Papuan refugees.

But Manusians were stopped from providing food, water and medical assistance to the refugees and asylum seekers inside the detention centre.

"Five years is a gruelling experience for many, and it doesn't sit well for us, because ... we are people of hospitality and the current situation is [that] the authorities denied us to give them [help]: 'You can't do that.' Well, you can't stop a Manusian to deliver anything.

"I cannot leave my neighbour hungry. And leaving [people] without basic needs is out of the ordinary. Whose policy is that? Inhuman, totally inhuman."

Other reports say that local Manus people who had been trying to bring food by boat to the refugees and asylum seekers at the centre were intercepted by the police.

They were strongly warned not to do so again and released.

Karapanagiotidis said the responsibility for assisting should not fall to Manusian citizens.

"The villains are not the local people of PNG," he said. "Many feel as much unease, disgust and distress as to what has been done to the refugees and people seeking asylum on Manus as we do. The fault lies with the Australian government."

Source

• The Guardian
• Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
• Social Concerns
• Image: The Guardian

Dear brothers and sisters,

Jesus is 'the evangeliser par excellence and the Gospel in person'.

His solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised, invites all of us to care for the frailest and to recognise 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'.

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'.

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'. Continue reading

Sources

• News.VA
• Image: Amnesty International
• See also Spiegel Online: 'Survivors of shipwreck "left to die".'