“In order that those consoling thoughts should not grow dim, but rather offer refugees and migrants a comfort in their trials… the Church had to look after them with special care and unremitting aid… Above all, it was necessary to combat the evil work of those perverse men who, alas, associated with migrants under the pretext of bringing material aid…”
These words from the apostolic letter, Exul Familia, are as relevant today as when penned by Pope Pius XII in 1952. The language may seem quaint and the style highly Euro-centric, but the wartime pope was well qualified to speak of the plight of people on the move. He pays exhaustive homage to the rich tradition of the Church in caring for people forced to leave their homes, irrespective of race, creed or colour, be it for reasons of economy or war, colonial expansion, military service or as slaves.
In this millennium, a Vatican conference run in 2007 under the title, People on the Move, describes the migrant as generally “living on the margin of society”. It also notes the number of those with false documents or even without any documentation is increasing.
It says, “Sometimes they come alone, sometimes in groups, even paying prices that are very high for their poor means… Sometimes the journey itself becomes a death trap, and when they reach the ‘land of their dreams’, not a few experience the reverse side of the coin: corruption, criminality or prostitution.”
Focus on the concerns of the wealthy obscures the compelling reasons of the tens of thousands from Latin America milling on the banks of the Rio Grande in search of a hole in Donald Trump’s fence, and reduces them to the simplistic
In this scenario, the admonition of Pope Pius to the Church to not only provide shelter and comfort, but to publicise the plight of migrants and advocate with civil authorities on their behalf, holds a special relevance today.
The war in Ukraine has reignited interest in refugees among western-dominated media outlets. The truly disastrous situation has seen millions fleeing violence and poverty. Many have been welcomed and cared for in Poland, and even in the usually refugee-resistant Hungry, making for highly accessible gut-wrenching stories for far away consumers. Sadly, reports on refugees often tend to highlight consumer interest rather than migrant plight; stressing the threat to the west of escalating Russian aggression; and depicting burgeoning camps in Calais as destabilising England; leaky boats in the Mediterranean as a danger to Europe’s economy; and those approaching Australia, a grave risk to its national security!
Focus on the concerns of the wealthy obscures the compelling reasons of the tens of thousands from Latin America milling on the banks of the Rio Grande in search of a hole in Donald Trump’s fence, and reduces them to the simplistic.
in April 2016. File photo: CNS/Paul Haring
International media have remained blind to the enormity of the unfolding crisis in Latin America. For the past five years, the ever-deteriorating economy of Venezuela has squeezed millions out of the country, as prices in supermarkets have bloated by millions of percentage points since 2018, while wages remained stagnant, putting even a pack of Corn Flakes beyond the reach of a month’s salary.
Father Dan Harding, a Columban missionary of 25 years in Chile, says demographers anticipate the total number fleeing the crisis will top the seven million mark by the end of this year. Chile has been the destination of choice for many, in addition to significant numbers fleeing Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, to the extent that migrants, documented and undocumented, now account for almost 10 percent of the country’s 19.7 million population.
Father Harding sees the crisis from the receiving end. His parish in the Chilean capital of Santiago runs three houses of hospitality for people on the move. He admits this is a drop in the ocean in terms of the overall need, but believes the people have been extremely generous in their response to what he terms “a mostly unnoticed crisis”.
The conference on People on the Move also pointed to those displaced within their own countries as a matter of even greater concern, as they remain at the mercy of those creating the instability that has driven them out of their homes and are denied the protection the technical designation of refugee offers.
Far too often, the migrant is portrayed as a necessary evil or threat to the host country: accused of eyeing social service benefits, stealing jobs from locals or threatening to bloat populations by adding families to the burden the host nation has to carry.
Ironically, the unnoticed crises are unfolding as a parallel plea rises from the mouths of western leaders searching for workers from struggling nations to come on a temporary basis to carry out the dirty, dangerous and demeaning tasks their own people are, for various reasons, unwilling to soil their hands on.
In some places, lack of workers has seen crops ploughed into the ground. Healthcare, transport and hospitality also suffer from migrant labour shortage, as coronavirus, war and a variety of factors conspire to exclude cheap, throwaway, imported sweat.
However, government sponsored temporary migrant worker schemes mainly ignore the most salient value of the worker: humanity. Official discourse mostly describes migrant workers as an economic asset, to the exclusion of the human value of their presence. In addition, legislation protecting their rights is meaningless when a lack of effective enforcement mechanisms leaves the worker highly vulnerable to exploitation.
Far too often, the migrant is portrayed as a necessary evil or threat to the host country: accused of eyeing social service benefits, stealing jobs from locals or threatening to bloat populations by adding families to the burden the host nation has to carry.
The watershed, 1891 encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Of Things New [Rerum Novarum], proposes recognition of the right of living space for all families as a basis for a more favourable distribution of people on the face of the earth, which God created for the use of all.
Pope Pius says, “If the two parties, those who agree to leave their native land and those who agree to admit newcomers, remain anxious to eliminate as far as possible all obstacles to the birth and growth of real confidence… all those affected by such transference of people and places will profit by the transaction.”
Jim Mulroney
