Leading European bishops’ official links migrant crisis to selfish culture

May 02, 2016

Representatives of the English, French, and German episcopates met in Paris to discuss the situation in Calais, France, where thousands of migrants who hope to enter the United Kingdom have gathered.

“Only if we love and welcome the other person with love, will we receive love in return,” said Msgr. Duarte da Cunha, general secretary of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, according to a report from the Italian news agency SIR. “If we are afraid and we defend ourselves, the reaction will be one of challenge and tension.”

“What is happening in Europe today, the increasing closures, the mounting walls and fears, are the result of a past in which people have been taught to be consumerist, selfish and individualistic,” he continued. “We cannot expect a culture of values after having promoted a form of education without values for years.”

 

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Further information:

• European bishops discuss the refugee crisis. Monsignor da Cunha (CCEE): “The answer to populism is not an ideology, it’s a life” (SIR)
• Bishops discuss Calais migrant crisis (CWN, 4/29)