Vatican official unsatisfied with Europe's response to immigration crisis
April 27, 2015
The president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants has voiced his dissatisfaction with European leaders’ response to the immigration crisis.
Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio said that an agreement to add patrols on the Mediterranean, to help migrants whose vessels are in distress, “does not solve the problem.” The real problem, he observed, is that European leaders “are willing to give money, as long as they are not disturbed in their own country.”
Cardinal Veglio was particularly critical of the suggestion that European nations should bomb the ships used by unscrupulous “people smugglers.” A bombing raid on another country is an act of war, he pointed out, and bombs would likely cause civilian casualties. More to the point, he said: “You can destroy all the boats, but the problem of migrants fleeing wars, persecutions and poverty will still exist.”
The long-term solution to the problem of migration, Cardinal Veglio said, is not to bar immigrants but to “try and make the countries from which they flee better.”
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Posted by: [email protected] -
Apr. 27, 2015 7:26 PM ET USA
If the Europeans want countries that have a demorgraphic that looks like them, then they need to ensure how much migration or immigration takes place. You cannot just open the floodgates and survive. Too manny of these Cardinals think all will be well if we just get run over. You are setting up countries for war.
