INDEX

Presentation

Introduction

THE MIGRATION PHENOMENON TODAY

The challenge of human mobility
International migration
Domestic migration

Part I

MIGRATION, SIGN OF THE TIMES AND CONCERN FOR THE CHURCH

Migration as seen with the eyes of faith
Migration and the History of Salvation
Christ the “foreigner” and Mary, a living symbol of the emigrant
The Church of Pentecost
The Church’s care for migrants and refugees
Exsul Familia
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
Canonical norms
Pastoral lines of the Magisterium
Entities of the Holy See

Part II

MIGRANTS AND THE PASTORAL CARE OF WELCOME

Inculturation, cultural and religious pluralism
The Church of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
Welcome and solidarity
Liturgy and popular piety
Catholic migrants
Eastern Rite Catholic migrants
Migrants of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities
Migrants of other religions in general
Four matters calling for particular attention
Muslim migrants
Interreligious dialogue

Part III

WORKERS IN A PASTORAL CARE OF COMMUNION

In the home and the host Churches
The National Co-ordinator for chaplains/missionaries
The migrants’ chaplain/missionary
Diocesan/eparchial presbyters as chaplains/missionaries
Religious presbyters, brothers and sisters working among migrants
The laity, lay associations and ecclesial movements: for an engagement among migrants

Part IV

THE STRUCTURES OF MISSIONARY PASTORAL CARE

Unity in plurality: the problems
Pastoral structures
Integrated pastoral care and its various sectors
Pastoral units

CONCLUSION

UNIVERSAL MISSION

Semina Verbi (Seeds of the Word)
Builders of communion
A dialoguing and missionary spirit in pastoral care
The Church and Christians, sign of hope

JURIDICAL PASTORAL REGULATIONS

Premise

Chap. I: The lay faithful
Chap. II: Chaplains/missionaries
Chap. III: Men and women religious
Chap. IV: Church Authorities
Chap. V: Episcopal Conferences and corresponding Hierarchical Structures of the Eastern Catholic Churches
Chap. VI: The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

Abbreviations

Today’s migration makes up the vastest movement of people of all times. In these last decades, the phenomenon, now involving about two hundred million individuals, has turned into a structural reality of contemporary society. It is becoming an increasingly complex problem from the social, cultural, political, religious, economic and pastoral points of view.

Taking into consideration the new migration flows and their characteristics, the Instruction Erga migrantes caritas Christi aims to update the pastoral care of migration, thirty-five years after the publication of Pope Paul VI’s Motu Proprio Pastoralis migratorum cura and the Congregation for Bishops’ related Instruction De pastorali migratorum cura (Nemo est).

Thus it intends to be an ecclesial response to the new pastoral needs of migrants and lead them towards the transformation of their migration experience not only into an opportunity to grow in Christian life, but also an occasion of new evangelization and mission. Furthermore, the document aims to apply accurately the norms contained both in the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church and in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in order to respond more adequately to the pastoral needs of the emigrant faithful of the Eastern Churches. They are now more and more numerous.

The composition of today’s migration also requires an ecumenical vision of the phenomenon because of the presence of many migrants not in full communion with the Catholic Church. It also imposes the need of inter-religious dialogue because of the increasing number of migrants belonging to other religions, particularly Muslims, in traditionally Catholic countries, and vice-versa. Finally, another purely pastoral need, which is indispensable, is the promotion of pastoral action that is both faithful to tradition and open to new developments. These include pastoral structures which must also be apt to guarantee communion between pastoral agents in the field of migration and the local hierarchy in the receiving country. The latter continues to be the decisive organ of the solicitude of the Church for migrants.

The document then rapidly reviews some causes of today’s migration phenomenon (globalization, demographic changes especially in the countries that were industrialized first, increase in inequality between North and South, the proliferation of conflicts and civil wars). After that, it highlights the grave difficulties that emigration generally entails for individuals, particularly women and children, as well as for families. Such a phenomenon raises the ethical problem of establishing a new international economic order with a more equitable distribution of the goods of the earth, in which the international community is considered a family of peoples whose relations are governed by International Law. Next, the Document presents a specific biblico-theological frame of reference, incorporating the migration phenomenon into the history of salvation, as a sign of the times and of the presence of God in history and in the community of peoples, directed to universal communion.

A brief historical excursus attests to the solicitude of the Church for migrants and refugees in its documents, from Exsul Familia to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the Instruction De pastorali migratorum cura and the subsequent canonical norms. All this reveals important theological and pastoral insights. These include the centrality of the person of the migrant and the defense of his rights, the ecclesial and missionary dimension of migration itself, the consideration of the pastoral contribution of the lay faithful, the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, the value of culture in the work of evangelization, the protection and the valorization of minorities also in the local Church, the importance of ecclesial dialogue, both intra and extra, and finally, the specific contribution that migration can offer for universal peace.

There then follows a presentation of other topics: the need for “inculturation”, the vision of Church as communion, mission and People of God, the ever new importance of a specific pastoral care for migrants, the dialogical-missionary commitment of all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ, and the consequent duty of forming a culture of welcome and solidarity. These introduce the analysis of pastoral questions that require responses, specifically the pastoral approaches among Catholic migrants, both of the Latin and the Eastern rites, of migrants who belong to other Churches or Ecclesial Communities, and those who are followers of other religions, Islam in particular.

After this comes a more detailed description, or pastoral and juridical definition, of pastoral agents (namely, Chaplains/Missionaries and their National Coordinators, diocesan/eparchial priests, religious priests and brothers, women religious, lay people, lay associations and ecclesial movements), whose apostolic commitment is seen and considered in view of a “pastoral care of communion”, an integrated one.

Another important pastoral characteristic, that the Document points out and proposes to the particular Churches, is the integration of pastoral structures (those already established and those proposed) and the ecclesial inclusion of migrants in ordinary pastoral care, with full respect for their legitimate diversity and of their spiritual and cultural patrimony, also in view of the formation of a concretely Catholic Church. Such an integration is an essential condition for pastoral care, for and with migrants, to become a significant expression of the universal Church and missio ad Gentes, fraternal and peaceful meeting, house of everyone, school of communion that is received and shared, of reconciliation that is implored and granted, of mutual and fraternal welcome and solidarity, as well as authentic human and Christian promotion.

The Instruction concludes with updated and accurate “juridico-pastoral regulations”, which uses appropriate language in recalling duties, tasks and roles of pastoral agents and of the various Church entities in charge of the pastoral care of migration.

Stephen Fumio Cardinal Hamao
President

Agostino Marchetto
Titular Archbishop of Astigi
Secretary

INTRODUCTION

The challenge of human mobility

1. The love of Christ towards migrants urges us (cf. 2 Co 5,14)to look afresh at their problems, which are to be met with today all over the world. In fact nearly all countries are now faced with the eruption of the migration phenomenon in one aspect or another; it affects their social, economic, political and religious life and is becoming more and more a permanent structural phenomenon. Migration is often determined by a free decision of the migrants themselves, taken fairly frequently not only for economic reasons but also for cultural, technical or scientific motives. As such it is for the most part a clear indication of social, economic and demographic imbalance on a regional or world-wide level, which drives people to emigrate.

The roots of the phenomenon can also be traced back to exaggerated nationalism and, in many countries, even to hatred and systematic or violent exclusion of ethnic or religious minorities from society. This can be seen in civil, political, ethnic and even religious conflicts raging in all continents. Such tensions swell the growing flood of refugees, who often mingle with other migrants. The impact can be felt in host societies, in which ethnic groups and people with different languages and cultures are brought together with the risk of reciprocal opposition and conflict.

3. The challenge confronting us in today’s migrations is not an easy one because many different spheres are involved: economics, sociology, politics, health, culture and security. All Christians must respond to this challenge; it is not just a matter of good will or the personal charisma of a few.

We therefore thought of writing this Instruction. Its prime purpose is to respond to the new spiritual and pastoral needs of migrants and to make migration more and more an instrument of dialogue and proclamation of the Christian message. In addition this Document sets out to provide an answer to certain important present-day needs. This includes the necessity to take into due account the new norms of the two Codes of Canon Law now in force for the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, thus answering the particular needs of the growing numbers of emigrants of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Then there is also the need to bear in mind the ecumenical aspect of the phenomenon, owing to the presence among migrants of Christians not in full communion with the Catholic Church, and also the inter-religious aspect, owing to the increasing number of migrants of other religions, in particular Muslims. Finally our pastoral care must be open to new developments in pastoral structures themselves, while at the same time guaranteeing communion between pastoral workers in this specific field and the local hierarchy.

International Migration

5. It is not surprising, therefore, that migration meant and still means enormous hardships and suffering for the migrants. Yet, especially in more recent times and in certain circumstances, it has often been encouraged and promoted to foster the economic development of both the migrants’ host country and their country of origin (especially through their financial remittances). Many nations, in fact, would not be what they are today without the contribution made by millions of immigrants.

The emigration of family nuclei and women is particularly marked by suffering. Women migrants are becoming more and more numerous. They are often contracted as unskilled labourers (or domestics) and employed illegally. Often migrants are deprived of their most elementary human rights, including that of forming labour unions, when they do not become outright victims of the sad phenomenon of human trafficking, which no longer spares even children. This is a new chapter in the history of slavery.

However, even without such extremes, it is necessary to reiterate that foreign workers are not to be considered merchandise or merely manpower. Therefore they should not be treated just like any other factor of production. Every migrant enjoys inalienable fundamental rights which must be respected in all cases. Furthermore the migrants’ contribution to the economy of the host country comes together with the possibility for them to use their intelligence and abilities in their work.

7. The growing presence of Muslims, as well as followers of other religions, in traditionally Christian countries falls under the broader and more complex heading of the meeting between cultures and interreligious dialogue. In any case, Christians are also present in significant numbers in some nations whose populations are in the vast majority Muslim.

In the face of the widespread migratory phenomenon, with aspects profoundly different today from what they were in the past, policies on a purely national level would be of little value. No country today may think that it can solve migration problems on its own. Even more ineffective would be purely restrictive policies, which, in turn, would generate still more negative effects, with the risk of increasing illegal entries and even favouring the activities of criminal organisations.

8. International migration must therefore be considered an important structural component of the social, economic and political reality of the world today. The large numbers involved call for closer and closer collaboration between countries of origin and destination, in addition to adequate norms capable of harmonising the various legislative provisions. The aim of this would be to safeguard the needs and rights of the emigrants and their families and, likewise, those of the societies receiving them.

At the same time, however, migration raises a truly ethical question: the search for a new international economic order for a more equitable distribution of the goods of the earth. This would make a real contribution to reducing and checking the flow of a large number of migrants from populations in difficulty. From this there follows the need for a more effective commitment to educational and pastoral systems that form people in a “global dimension”, that is, a new vision of the world community, considered as a family of peoples, for whom the goods of the earth are ultimately destined when things are seen from the perspective of the universal common good.

Domestic migration

10. Recent times have also seen a considerable increase of domestic migration in various countries, sometimes voluntary, as that from country districts to cities, sometimes forced, as in the case of evacuees and of persons fleeing from terrorism, violence and drug-trafficking, especially in Africa and Latin America. It is estimated that world-wide the majority of migrants today remain within their own nations, in some cases moving about on a seasonal basis.

This type of mobility, left for the most part to evolve unattended, has encouraged the rapid and disordered expansion of urban centres unprepared to take in such masses of people and has fomented the growth of slums where conditions of life are socially and morally precarious. It compels migrants to settle in an environment that is very different from their place of origin, thus creating considerable hardship and grave danger of social uprooting with serious consequences for the religious and cultural traditions of these populations.

Nevertheless domestic migration keeps arousing great hopes, unfortunately often unfounded and illusory, in millions of persons, although it separates them from their family bonds and puts them in places with different climate and customs, even if the language may still be the same. If these migrants later return where they came from, they take with them a changed mentality, a different way of life, and not rarely another outlook on the world or religion, and divergent behaviour. This also challenges the pastoral action of the Church as Mother and Teacher.

11. In this field too, today’s situation thus requires of pastoral workers and host communities, in other words, of the Church, loving attention to “people on the move” and to their need for solidarity and fellowship. Through domestic migration too, the Spirit launches a clear and urgent appeal to renew and intensify our commitment to evangelisation and charity. This calls for well designed forms of welcome and pastoral activity, that is, continuous, thorough and adapted as closely as possible to the actual situation and specific needs of the migrants.

PART I

Migration as seen with the eyes of faith

12. In migrants the Church has always contemplated the image of Christ who said, “I was a stranger and you made me welcome” (Mt 25:35). Their condition is, therefore, a challenge to the faith and love of believers, who are called on to heal the evils caused by migration and discover the plan God pursues through it even when caused by obvious injustices. Migration brings together the manifold components of the human family and thus leads to the construction of an ever vaster and more varied society, almost a prolongation of that meeting of peoples and ethnic groups that, through the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, became ecclesial fraternity.

If, on the one hand, the suffering that goes with migration is neither more nor less than the birth-pangs of a new humanity, on the other the inequalities and disparities behind this suffering reveal the deep wounds that sin causes in the human family. They are thus an urgent appeal for true fraternity.

13. This vision leads us to approach migration in the light of those biblical events that mark the phases of humanity’s arduous journey towards the birth of a people without discrimination or frontiers, depository of God’s gift for all nations and open to man’s eternal vocation. Faith perceives in it the journey of the Patriarchs, sustained by the promise as they moved towards the future homeland, and that of the Hebrews, freed from slavery, as they crossed the Red Sea in the Exodus, that formed the People of the Covenant. Again, in a certain sense, faith finds in migration an exile, in which every goal reached in fact is relative. In migration faith discovers once more the universal message of the prophets, who denounce discrimination, oppression, deportation, dispersion and persecution as contrary to God’s plan. At the same time they proclaim salvation for all, witnessing even in the chaotic events and contradictions of human history, that God continues to work out his plan of salvation until all things are brought together in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10).

Migration and the History of Salvation

14. We can therefore consider the present-day phenomenon of migration a significant “sign of the times”, a challenge to be discovered and utilised in our work to renew humanity and proclaim the gospel of peace.

The Holy Scriptures show us clearly what all this means. Israel traced its origins back to Abraham, who in obedience to God’s call left his home and went to a foreign land, taking with him the divine Promise that he would become the father “of a great nation” (Gn 12:1-2). Jacob, a wandering Aramaen, “went down into Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation, great, strong and numerous” (Dt 26:5). After its long servitude in Egypt Israel received its solemn investiture as the “People of God” during its forty-year “Exodus” through the desert. The hard test of migration and deportation is therefore fundamental to the story of the chosen people in view of the salvation of all peoples: Israel knew the return from exile (cf. Is 42:6-7; 49:5). With these memories it could take new heart in its trust in God, even in the darkest moments of its history (Ps 105 [104]: 12-15; Ps 106 [105]: 45-47).With regard to the foreigner living in the country, the Law enjoins the same commandment on Israel as applies to “the children of your people” (Lv 19:18), that is, “you must … love him as yourself” (Lv 19:34).

Christ the “foreigner” and Mary, a living symbol of the emigrant

The Church of Pentecost

16. Contemplating now the Church, we see that it was born from Pentecost, fulfilment of the Paschal Mystery. It was a real and symbolic meeting of peoples, which later led Paul to declare, “There is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man” (Col 3:11). For Christ in fact “has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart” (Eph 2:14).

18. Migrants’ journeying can thus become a living sign of an eternal vocation, a constant stimulus to that hope which points to a future beyond this present world, inspiring the transformation of the world in love and eschatological victory. The peculiarities of migrants is an appeal for us to live again the fraternity of Pentecost, when differences are harmonised by the Spirit and charity becomes authentic in accepting one another. So the experience of migration can be the announcement of the paschal mystery, in which death and resurrection make for the creation of a new humanity in which there is no longer slave or foreigner (cf. Gal 3:28).

The Church’s care for migrants and refugees

Following the Second World War the migration phenomenon became even more dramatic not only as a result of the devastation caused by the conflict but also by the worsening of the phenomenon of refugees (especially from what was termed the Eastern Countries), many of whom belonged to various Eastern Catholic Churches.

Exsul Familia

The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council

22. The Second Vatican Council therefore marked a decisive moment for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerant persons, attributing particular importance to the meaning of mobility and catholicity and that of particular Churches, to the sense of parish, and to the vision of the Church as mystery of communion. Thus the Church stands out as “a people that derives its union from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (LG 4) and presents itself as such.

Canonical norms

24. The new Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, in confirmation and application of the Council’s wishes, requests parish priests to be especially attentive towards persons who are far from their own country (Can. 529, §1) and stresses the desirability and obligation whenever possible of arranging specific pastoral care for them (Can. 568). Like the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches, it envisages the establishment of personal parishes (CIC Can. 518 and CCEO Can. 280, §1) as well as missions for the spiritual care of the faithful (Can. 516) and even the creation of specific pastoral figures such as episcopal vicars (Can. 476) and chaplains for migrants (Can. 568).

26. The aforementioned Code provides for the constitution of Churches sui iuris (CCEO Can. 27, 28 and 148), calls for the promotion and observance of the “rites of the Eastern Churches as patrimony of the universal Church of Christ” (Can. 39; cf. also Can. 40 and 41) and establishes precise norms concerning liturgical and disciplinary laws (Can. 150). The Code also lays the obligation on the eparch to attend to the Christian faithful “of whatever age, condition, nation or Church sui iuris they may be, whether they are permanently or only temporarily resident in the eparchy” (Can. 192, §1) and to ensure that the Christian faithful of another Church sui iuris entrusted to his care “preserve the rite of their own Church” (Can. 193, §1) if possible “by the ministry of presbyters and parish priests of the same Church sui iuris (Can. 193, §2). Finally the Code recommends that the parish should be territorial but without excluding personal parishes if required by circumstances (cf. Can. 280, §1).

The Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches also provides for the possible establishment of an exarchate, defined as “a portion of the people of God which, for special circumstances, is not erected as an eparchy and which, limited to a certain territory or determined by other criteria, is entrusted to the pastoral care of the Exarch” (CCEO Can. 311, §1).

Pastoral lines of the Magisterium

Cultural plurality thus invites contemporary man to practise dialogue and also face basic questions such as the meaning of life and history, suffering and poverty, hunger, sickness and death. Openness to different cultural identities does not, however, mean accepting them all indiscriminately, but rather respecting them – because they are inherent in people – and, if possible, appreciating them in their diversity. The “relativity” of cultures was also stressed by the Second Vatican Council (cf. GS 54, 55, 56, 58). Plurality is a treasure, and dialogue is the as yet imperfect and ever evolving realization of that final unity to which humanity aspires and is called.

Entities of the Holy See

31. The Church’s constant concern for the religious, social and cultural care of migrants manifested by the Magisterium is likewise shown by the special entities established by the Holy See for this purpose.

32. It is therefore the task of the Pontifical Council to stimulate, promote and animate opportune pastoral initiatives in favour of those who by choice or through necessity leave their normal place of residence, as well as to carefully follow the social, economic and cultural questions that are usually at the origin of such movements.

The Pontifical Council directly addresses Episcopal Conferences and their respective Councils, the corresponding episcopal structures in the Eastern Catholic Churches concerned, and also individual bishops and hierarchs. While respecting the responsibility of each one, it urges them to implement a specific pastoral care for persons involved in the ever growing phenomenon of human mobility and to adopt suitable provisions as called for by the changing situations.

In recent times the aspect of migration has become part of ecumenical relations too. As a result contacts with other Churches and Ecclesial Communities increase. From this perspective, attention is also given to inter-religious dialogue. Finally the Pontifical Council, through its superiors and officials, is at times present in the international arena, representing the Holy See at meetings of multilateral organisations.

Nor, finally, must we forget the important commitment of the various Caritas organisations and other similar organisms of charity and solidarity in the service of migrants and refugees.

PART II

Inculturation, cultural and religious pluralism

34. The Church, sacrament of unity, overcomes ideological or racial barriers and divisions and proclaims to all people and all cultures the need to strive for the truth in the perspective of correctly facing differences by dialogue and mutual acceptance. Different cultural identities are thus to open up to a universal way of understanding, not abandoning their own positive elements but putting them at the service of the whole of humanity. While this logic engages every particular Church, it highlights and reveals that unity in diversity that is contemplated in the Trinity, which, for its part, refers the communion of all to the fullness of the personal life of each one.

The cultural situation today, global and dynamic as it is, calls for the incarnation of the one faith in many cultures and thus represents an unprecedented challenge, a true kairòs for the whole People of God (cf. EEu 58).

35. We are therefore face to face with a cultural and religious pluralism never perhaps experienced so consciously before. On the one hand, rapid progress is being made towards a world-wide openness, facilitated by technological means and the media, with the result that cultural and religious backgrounds, traditionally different and foreign to one another, are being brought into contact and even mingled with one another. On the other, fresh demands for a local identity emerge, which consider the cultural traits of each individual the means for self-realisation.

36. This fluidity of cultures makes “inculturation” even more indispensable, as it is not possible to evangelise without entering into serious dialogue with cultures. Together with peoples of different roots, other values and models of life are knocking at our doors. While each culture tends to interpret the gospel in terms of its own way of life, it is the task of the Magisterium of the Church to guide these attempts and judge their validity.

The Church of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council

37. In the vision of the Second Vatican Council there are three fundamental ways in which the Church carries out its pastoral ministry:

§ Being missionary, the Church’s ministry is outward looking, passing on its own treasures to others and being enriched with new gifts and values. This missionary quality is at work inside each particular Church because mission is, in the first place, radiating the glory of God, and the Church needs “to hear the proclamation of the ‘mighty works of God’ … to be called together afresh by Him and reunited” (EN 15).

§ Being the People and family of God, mystery, sacrament, Mystical Body and Temple of the Spirit, the Church becomes the history of a people on the move. Its starting point is the mystery of Christ and the vicissitudes of the individual and groups of which it is composed, and from this it is called to fashion a new history, gift of God and fruit of human freedom. In the Church, therefore, migrants too are called to be protagonists of this together with all the People of God as pilgrim on earth (cf. RMi 32, 49 and 71).

38. From a concrete point of view the specific pastoral choices to be taken for the welcome of migrants can be delineated as follows:

§ pastoral care of a particular ethnic or ritual group, aimed at promoting a genuinely Catholic spirit (cf. LG 13);

§ need to safeguard universality and unity, which cannot, however, clash at the same time with the specific pastoral care that, if possible, entrusts migrants to presbyters of the same language, of their own Church sui iuris, or to presbyters who are close to them from a linguistic and cultural point of view (cf. DPMC 11);

§ great importance of the migrants’ mother tongue, in which they express their mentality, thought and culture, and the characteristics of their spiritual life and the traditions of their Church of origin (cf. DPMC 11).

Welcome and solidarity

39. Migration therefore touches the religious dimension of man too and offers Catholic migrants a privileged though often painful opportunity to reach a sense of belonging to the universal Church which goes beyond any local particularity. To this end it is important that communities do not think that they have completed their duty to migrants simply by performing acts of fraternal assistance or even by supporting legislation aimed at giving them their due place in society while respecting their identity as foreigners. Christians must in fact promote an authentic culture of welcome (cf. EEu 101 and 103) capable of accepting the truly human values of the immigrants over and above any difficulties caused by living together with persons who are different (cf. EEu 85, 112 and PaG 65).

Certainly the appeal alone, however nobly inspired and heartfelt, does not provide an automatic and practical reply to the pressing issues of every day. It does not, for example, eliminate a widespread fear or feeling of insecurity in people, neither does it guarantee due respect for legality nor safeguard the integrity of the host community. But a genuinely Christian spirit will give the right approach and courage to face these problems and suggest the practical means by which we are called to resolve them in the day-to-day life of our Christian communities (cf. EEu 85 and 111).

In religious instruction and catechesis suitable means must be found to create in the Christian conscience a sense of welcome, especially for the poorest and outcasts as migrants often are. This welcome is fully based on love for Christ, in the certainty that good done out of love of God to one’s neighbour, especially the most needy, is done to Him. This catechesis cannot avoid referring to the serious problems that precede and accompany migration, such as the demographic question, work and working conditions (illegal work), the care of the numerous elderly persons, criminality, the exploitation of migrants and trafficking and smuggling of human beings.

42. In welcoming migrants it is of course useful and correct to distinguish between assistance in a general sense (a first, short-term welcome), true welcome in the full sense (longer-term projects) and integration (an aim to be pursued constantly over a long period and in the true sense of the word).

Pastoral workers with competence in cultural mediation – and our Catholic communities too should ensure that they have such people – are called upon to help bridge the legitimate requirements of order, legality and social security with the Christian vocation to welcome others with practical expressions of love. It will also be important to ensure that all realise the benefits – not only economic – that industrialised countries derive from a regulated inflow of immigrants and at the same time become more and more aware that their need for manpower is being answered by human beings: men, women and whole families with children and elderly persons.

43. Nevertheless assistance or “first welcome” are of the greatest importance (let us think, for example, of migrants’ hospitality centres, especially in transit countries) in response to the emergencies that come with migrations: canteens, dormitories, clinics, economic aid, reception centres. But also important are acts of welcome in its full sense, which aim at the progressive integration and self-sufficiency of the immigrant. Let us remember in particular the commitment undertaken for family unification, education of children, housing, work, associations, promotion of civil rights and migrants’ various ways of participation in their host society. Religious, social, charitable and cultural associations of Christian inspiration should also make efforts to involve immigrants themselves in their structures.

Liturgy and popular piety

44. The ecclesiological foundation of the pastoral care of migrants will also help give shape to a liturgy that is more sensitive to the historical and anthropological aspects of migration, so that liturgical celebrations become a living expression of communities of believers who walk hic et nunc on the ways of salvation.

This raises the question of the relation of liturgy with the character, tradition and genius of different cultural groups and how to respond to the particular social and cultural situation of such groups by pastoral care that should consider their specific liturgical formation and ways of making liturgy more lively (cf. SC 23) and also promote the wider participation of the faithful in the particular Church (cf. EEu 69-72 and 78-80).

In this connection, presbyters will do all they can to make the People of God aware of the need in every particular Church of authentic vocations to the priesthood and to promote intense vocation ministry in this regard among immigrants too (EEu 31-32 and PaG 53-54).

Today we are also witnessing a renewed commitment to involve families in preparing for the reception of the sacraments, which can bring fresh vitality to Christian communities. Through this, in fact, many young persons (cf. PaG 53) and adults are rediscovering the meaning and the value of ways that help give new strength to their faith and Christian life.

Catholic migrants

49. With regard to Catholic migrants the Church makes provision for a specific kind of pastoral care because of diversity of language, origin, culture, ethnicity and tradition, or of belonging to a particular Church sui iuris with its own rite. In fact, these factors often hinder a full and speedy insertion of immigrants into local territorial parishes, or it may be necessary to bear them in mind with the prospect of erecting parishes or a hierarchy for the faithful belonging to particular Churches sui iuris. The uprooting that moving abroad inevitably involves (from country of origin, family, language etc.) should not be made worse by uprooting the migrant from his religious rite or identity too.

50. When groups of immigrants are particularly numerous and homogeneous therefore, they are encouraged to keep up their specific Catholic traditions. In particular, efforts must be made to provide organised religious assistance by priests of the language, culture and rite of the migrants selecting the most suitable juridical option from among those foreseen by the CIC and the CCEO.

In any case it is not possible to over-emphasise the need for the closest communion between language-based missions and territorial parishes. It is also important to work for mutual knowledge, making use of all opportunities offered by ordinary pastoral work also to involve immigrants in the life of the parishes (cf. EEu 28).

In case immigrants are too few in number for a specific organised religious assistance, the particular Church where they have arrived should help them overcome the problems caused by uprooting from their community of origin and the serious difficulties of finding their place in their new one. Where immigrants are not significant in number, catechism and liturgical formation by religious and lay pastoral workers in close collaboration with chaplains/missionaries will prove to be particularly valuable (cf. EEu 51, 73 and also PaG 51).

51. Mention should also be made of the need to provide specific pastoral assistance for technicians, professional workers and foreign students temporarily resident in countries where the majority of the population is Muslim or of another faith. If left to themselves without any spiritual guide, these temporary migrants, instead of bearing Christian witness, may be the cause of erroneous judgments about Christianity. In saying this, we fully acknowledge the beneficial influence of thousands and thousands of Christians who do bear faithful witness in these countries, or of the return to their original homes, where Christians are in the minority, by former migrants of other religions who have been living in dominantly Catholic regions.

Eastern Rite Catholic migrants

52. Eastern Rite Catholic migrants, whose numbers are steadily increasing, deserve particular pastoral attention. In their regard we should first of all remember the juridical obligation of the faithful to observe their own rite everywhere insofar as possible, rite being understood as their liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage (cf. CCEO Can. 28, §1 and PaG 72).

This means that “even though entrusted to the care of a hierarch or pastor of another Church sui iuris, they still remain inscribed as members of their own Church sui iuris” (CCEO Can. 38). Indeed even a prolonged practice of receiving the sacraments according to the rite of another Church sui iuris does not mean that they become members of that Church (cf. CIC Can. 112, §2). It is in fact forbidden “to change rites without the consent of the Apostolic See” (cf. CCEO Can. 32 and CIC Can. 112, §1).

Notwithstanding their right and duty to observe their own rite Eastern Catholic migrants also have the right to participate actively in the liturgical celebrations of any other Church sui iuris, including the Latin Church, in accordance with the prescriptions of its liturgical books (cf. CCEO Can. 403, §1).

Moreover the hierarchy must take care that those who have frequent contacts with the faithful of another rite should know that rite and respect it (cf. CCEO Can. 41). It will also be vigilant that no one should feel restricted in his freedom because of language or rite (cf. CCEO Can. 588).

53. In this line the Second Vatican Council (CD 23) decreed: “Where there are faithful of a different rite, the diocesan bishop should provide for their spiritual needs either through priests or parishes of that rite or through an episcopal vicar endowed with the necessary faculties. Wherever it is fitting, the last named should also have episcopal rank. Otherwise the Ordinary himself may perform the office of an Ordinary of different rites”. Moreover “one or more episcopal vicars can be named by the bishop. These automatically enjoy the same authority which the common law grants the vicar general … for the faithful of a determined rite” (CD 27).

54. In conformity with the Council’s decree, the CIC (Can. 383, §2) lays down that if the diocesan bishop “has faithful of a different rite in his diocese, he is to provide for their spiritual needs either through priests or parishes of the same rite or through an episcopal vicar”. The latter, in accordance with Can. 476 of the CIC, “posses[es] the same ordinary power which a vicar general has by universal law” regarding his relation with the faithful of a particular rite. After enunciating the principle of the territorial nature of a parish, the CIC (Can. 518) lays down in fact that “when it is expedient personal parishes are to be established, determined by reason of the rite”.

55. Whenever this is done, these parishes will juridically form an integral part of the Latin diocese, and the parish priests of the aforementioned rite will be members of the diocesan presbyterate of the Latin bishop. It should, however, be noted that although in the hypothesis foreseen in the above mentioned canons these faithful are living within the jurisdiction of the Latin bishop, it is opportune that before instituting personal parishes for them or designating a presbyter as assistant or parish priest or indeed episcopal vicar, the Latin bishop should take up contact both with the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and with the respective hierarchy, in particular with the Patriarch.

Migrants of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities

In the case of migrants, these provisions and the “ecumenism of daily life” (PaG 64) cannot fail to have beneficial effects. Particular moments for ecumenical commitment could be the major liturgical feasts of the different denominations, the traditional World Days of Prayer for Peace, of Migrants and Refugees and the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Migrants of other religions, in general

In the case of non-Christian immigrants, the Church is also concerned with their human development and with the witness of Christian charity, which itself has an evangelising value that may open hearts for the explicit proclamation of the gospel when this is done with due Christian prudence and full respect for the freedom of the other. In any case the migrant of another religion should be helped insofar as possible to preserve a transcendent view of life.

The Church is thus called upon to open a dialogue with these immigrants, and this “dialogue should be conducted and implemented in the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation” (RMi 55; cf. also PaG 68).

60. This requires Catholic communities receiving immigrants to appreciate their own identity even more, prove their loyalty to Christ, know the contents of the faith well, rediscover their missionary calling and thus commit themselves to bear witness for Jesus the Lord and His gospel. This is the necessary prerequisite for the correct attitude of sincere dialogue, open and respectful of all but at the same time neither naivenor ill-equipped (cf. PaG 64 and 68).

It is the Christians’ task in particular to help immigrants find their place in the social and cultural context of their host country by accepting its civil laws (PaG 72). Above all, however, Christians are called upon with the witness of their lives to denounce certain negative aspects present in the rich industrialised countries (materialism and consumerism, moral relativism and religious indifferentism), which might shake the religious convictions of immigrants.

We hope that this commitment with regard to immigrants will not just be practised by individual Christians alone or by traditional aid organisations but may also be included in the overall programmes of ecclesial movements and lay associations of the faithful (cf. CfL 29).

Four matters calling for particular attention

61. To avoid misunderstandings and confusion, and considering the religious diversity that we mutually recognise, and out of respect for sacred places and the religion of the other too, we do not consider it opportune for Christian churches, chapels, places of worship or other places reserved for evangelisation and pastoral work to be made available for members of non-Christian religions. Still less should they be used to obtain recognition of demands made on the public authorities. On the other hand spaces for social use, for free-time activities, games and relaxation and the like, could and should be opened to persons of other religions, respecting the rules followed in these places. The social contacts made there would be an opportunity to favour the integration of the new arrivals and prepare cultural mediators capable of helping overcome cultural and religious barriers by promoting adequate reciprocal knowledge.

Moreover religious instruction provided for in the school curriculum, if given with a scholastic character, may be useful to help pupils learn about a faith different from their own. In religious instruction, however, all must be educated to respect persons of different religious convictions but relativism must be avoided.

64. Finally, in relations between Christians and persons of other religions, the principle of reciprocity is important. It is to be understood not merely as an attitude for making claims but as a relationship based on mutual respect and on justice in juridical and religious matters. Reciprocity is also an attitude of heart and spirit that enables us to live together everywhere with equal rights and duties. Healthy reciprocity will urge each one to become an “advocate” for the rights of minorities when his or her own religious community is in the majority. In this respect we should also recall the numerous Christian migrants in lands where the majority of the population is not Christian and where the right to religious freedom is severely restricted or repressed.

Muslim migrants

65. Today, especially in certain countries, there is a high or growing percentage of Muslim immigrants, for whom this Pontifical Council also expresses its solicitude.

67. When, for example, a Catholic woman and a Muslim wish to marry, bearing in mind what is stated in No. 63 and local pastoral judgements, bitter experience teaches us that a particularly careful and in-depth preparation is called for. During it the two fiancés will be helped to know and consciously “assume” the profound cultural and religious differences they will have to face, both between themselves and in relation to their respective families and the Muslim’s original environment, to which they may possibly return after a period spent abroad.

If the marriage is registered with a consulate of the Islamic country of origin, the Catholic party must beware of reciting or signing documents containing the shahada (profession of the Muslim belief).

In any case, the marriage between a Catholic and a Muslim, if celebrated in spite of all this, requires not only canonical dispensation but also the support of the Catholic community both before and after the marriage. One of the most important tasks of Catholic associations, volunteer workers and counselling services will be to help these families educate their children and, if need be, to support the least protected member of the Muslim family, that is the woman, to know and insist on her rights.

68. Finally as regards the baptism of the children, it is well known that the norms of the two religions are in stark contrast. The problem must therefore be raised with absolute clarity during the preparation for marriage, and the Catholic party must take a firm stand on what the Church requires. Conversion and the request for baptism by adult Muslims also require very careful attention, both because of the particular nature of the Muslim religion and the consequences that follow from this.

Interreligious dialogue

69. Societies today are more and more mixed as regards religion owing in part to migration. They thus require of Catholics a convinced willingness for true interreligious dialogue (cf. PaG 68). To this end both the ordinary Catholic faithful and pastoral workers in local Churches should receive solid formation and information on other religions so as to overcome prejudices, prevail over religious relativism and avoid unjustified suspicions and fears that hamper dialogue and erect barriers, even provoking violence or misunderstanding. Local Churches will take care to include such formation in the educational programmes of their seminaries, schools and parishes.

Nevertheless we ourselves must never renounce the proclamation – either explicit or implicit according to circumstances – of salvation in Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. The whole work of the Church moves in this direction in such a way that neither fraternal dialogue nor the exchange and sharing of “human” values can diminish the Church’s commitment to evangelisation (cf. RMi 10-11 and PaG 30).

PART III

In the home and the host Churches

70. To ensure that the pastoral care of migrants may be one of communion (that is, born from an ecclesiology of communion and serving a spirituality of communion), it is essential that the Churches of departure and arrival establish an intense collaboration with one another. This begins first in the reciprocal exchange of information on matters of common pastoral interest. It is unthinkable that these Churches should fail to dialogue with one another and systematically discuss, even in periodic meetings, problems concerning thousands of migrants. Then for the better co-ordination of all pastoral activity in favour of immigrants, Episcopal Conferences should entrust it to a special Commission, with the appointment of a National Director to animate the corresponding diocesan commissions. When it is not possible to set up such a Commission, a Bishop Promoter should at least be entrusted with the co-ordination of the pastoral care of migrants. In this way spiritual assistance for persons far from their home country will appear as a clear ecclesial commitment, a pastoral task that cannot simply be left to the generosity of individuals, presbyters, religious men or women, or lay faithful but sustained, even materially, by the local Churches (cf. also PaG 45).

71. Episcopal Conferences will likewise entrust to Catholic university faculties in their territories the task of studying the various aspects of migration more thoroughly for the benefit of concrete pastoral service for migrants. Compulsory courses of theological specialisation could also be programmed for this purpose.

72. The celebration of the World Day (or Week) of Migrants and Refugees will also be the occasion for a growing sense of urgency in commitment and for paying zealous attention to the specific topic proposed each year by the Supreme Pontiff in his Message. This Pontifical Council proposes that this day should be celebrated everywhere on one fixed date so as to help all to live together – at one and the same time – in the sight of God a day of prayer, action and sacrifice for the cause of migrants and refugees.

In addition to the World Day, an annual meeting of the bishop/eparch, possibly in his Cathedral, with all the ethnic groups present in the diocese/eparchy could prove to be of great significance. In some places where this event is already held, it is known as the “festival of peoples”.

The national co-ordinator for chaplains/missionaries

73. Among the pastoral workers in the service of the migrant, the National Co-ordinator is particularly important. He is meant to be a help more for the chaplains/missionaries of a certain language or country than for the migrants themselves. Likewise he is an expression of the Church ad quam in favour of the chaplains/missionaries themselves though he is not considered to be their representative. He is at the service of the chaplains/missionaries who receive the “declaration of suitability” – that is the rescript given by the Episcopal Conference a qua (cf. DPMC 36, 2) – in countries with a large number of immigrants coming from the same nation.

74. The activity of the National Co-ordinator towards the chaplains/missionaries is to exercise fraternal vigilance, to moderate and to act as a link between the various communities. He has no direct competence, however, over the migrants who, by reason of their domicile or semi-domicile, are subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinaries or hierarchs of the particular Churches or eparchies. He does not have jurisdiction over the chaplains/missionaries who, regarding the faculties and exercise of their ministry, are subject to the local ordinary, from whom they receive the relative faculties. The National Co-ordinator must therefore work in close contact with the national and diocesan directors of pastoral work for migrants.

The migrants’ chaplain/missionary

76. In this connection it is to be noted that “the complexity and continuing evolution which are to be observed in the phenomenon of people on the move make necessary, in order to give direction and purpose to the pastoral activity, the work of complementary institutions, designed to keep track of this phenomenon and aim atan objective evaluation of it. This means pastoral centres for ethnic groups but above all interdisciplinary study centres, that is, ones which would collate the material necessary for the working out and putting into practise a pastoral strategy” (CMU 40). This research should also be useful as a guide for studies in seminaries, institutes of formation and pastoral centres and should be directly utilisable for the preparation of pastoral workers dealing with migration.

77. To be a chaplain/missionary for migrants eiusdem sermonis (of the same language) does not, however, mean to remain prisoner to one exclusive, national way of living and expressing the faith. If on the one hand we must emphasise the need for specific pastoral care based on the necessity to transmit the Christian message by cultural means that correspond to the formation and just requirements of the persons it is aimed at, on the other it is equally important to reaffirm that such specific pastoral care also requires openness to a new world and a sincere effort to find one’s place in it, the final goal being the full participation of the migrants in the life of the diocese. In this process the chaplain/missionary must be a bridge, linking the community of migrants to the host community. He is with them to build the Church, in communion first of all with the diocesan bishop/eparch and with his brothers in the priesthood, in particular with the parish priests who have the same pastoral work to perform (cf. DPMC 30, 3). To do this he needs to know and appreciate the culture of the place where he is called to perform his ministry, speak its language, be able to dialogue with the society he lives in and teach esteem and respect for the host country, even to the point of loving and defending it. So even though the migrants’ chaplain/missionary makes use of ethnic or linguistic considerations as the basis in exercising his ministry, he knows well that the pastoral care of migrants must also result in building up a Church that aims at being ecumenical and missionary (cf. RMi 10-11; DPMC 30, 2).

78. Those responsible for pastoral work among migrants should thus have a certain expertise in intercultural communication. The same also applies to those responsible for pastoral care on the local level since those coming from abroad cannot effect such cultural mediation on their own.

The principal tasks of the pastoral worker among immigrants are, above all, thus:

· safeguarding the migrants’ ethnic, cultural, linguistic and ritual identity since effective pastoral activity is unthinkable if it does not respect and value their cultural heritage, which, however, must also be brought into dialogue with the local Church and culture so as to respond to new demands;

· guidance on the way to authentic integration, avoiding a cultural ghetto and at the same time opposing the pure and simple assimilation of migrants into the local culture;

· incarnating a missionary and evangelising spirit, by sharing the situation and conditions of migrants, with the ability to adapt and make personal contacts in an atmosphere of a clear witness of life.

Diocesan/eparchial presbyters as chaplains/missionaries

79. Chaplains/missionaries may be diocesan/eparchial presbyters (who normally remain incardinated in their own diocese/eparchy and go abroad temporarily to care for migrants) or religious presbyters. Both however, whether diocesan/eparchial or religious, take on the same mission, though their initial vocations may be different and complementary.

Religious presbyters, brothers and sisters working among migrants

81. In addition to these religious institutes for the pastoral care of migrants, there are also others which, although it is not their specific charism, are cordially invited to take part in this responsibility. In fact “it will always be opportune and praiseworthy for them to devote themselves to the spiritual care of this category of the faithful, choosing especially those activities that best correspond to their nature and aims” (DPMC 53, 2). This is the practical application of one of the Council’s directives, because “in view of the urgent need of souls and the scarcity of diocesan clergy, Religious communities which are not dedicated exclusively to the contemplative life can be called upon by the bishops to assist in various pastoral ministries. They should, however, keep in mind the particular character of each community. Superiors should encourage this work to the utmost, by accepting parishes, even on a temporary basis” (CD 35).

82. But if all religious institutes are called upon to keep in mind human mobility in their pastoral work, then they should give generous consideration to the possibility of sending some of their own members, men or women