Pope Francis has spoken about migrants when he met with the Scalabrinian missionaries, underscoring that Italy needs migrants due to its low birthrate.
“Today many countries need migrants. Italy does not have enough children, it does not have children. The average age is 46. Italy needs migrants and it must welcome them, accompany them, promote them, and support their integration. We must tell this truth,” declared Pope Francis while receiving the Scalabrinian missionaries on Monday, October 28.
“I am the son of migrants,” he added. “They leave hoping to ‘find their daily bread,’ and don’t give up, even when faced with closed doors.”
The Pope underscored three aspects of the Scalabrinians’ mission: “migrants, pastoral ministry, and charity,” saying, “Migrants teach hope, even when rejected. Their tenacity, driven by love for family left behind, teaches us much.”
For the Pope, “the search for the future that drives the migrant shows the need to be saved that brings all of us together, beyond race and conditions”.
Pope Francis also condemned exploitation, criticizing wealthy countries that view migrants as threats. “We see this here too: there is the scandal for the collection of apples in the north of Italy, they call on migrants from Central Europe for this, but then they send them away. They use them to collect apples, and then they leave.”
“So, in the dramatic confrontation between the interests of those who protect their prosperity and the fight of those who are trying to survive, escaping famine and persecution, many human lives are lost, under the indifferent eyes of those who simply watch the events unfold, or worse, those who speculate on the lives of those suffering,” commented the Holy Father.
Source: Infomigrants
