Catholic World News

Charity and justice demand welcome for migrants, pontifical academy president says

November 08, 2024

» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)

CWN Editor's Note: In a brief reflection for the Vatican newspaper, the president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology described migration as “one of the most explicit signs of the times that offers the Church — and every man who respects his own humanity — the opportunity to show concretely that one does not just talk.”

“For a society that knows the values ​​of Christianity, it is not only a question of charity, but above all it is a question of justice: if it is right to ‘give each his due,’ we must, with responsibility of human conscience, understand that ‘much of what I have and is mine’ belongs to the other, even to the migrant who arrives on our shores,” said Bishop Antonio Staglianò.

Welcoming and integrating migrants, he continued, allows a society to assume “the form of full-bodied love, of love that generates bonds and allows spiritual, social, economic, political, fraternal unity and cohesion.”

The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.

 


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  • Posted by: Randal Mandock - Nov. 08, 2024 12:41 PM ET USA

    "...belongs to the other"? So are we now all a band of thieves? My house "belongs to the other"? My clothes "belong to the other"? My medicines "belong to the other"? St. Paul distinguishes sharing from impoverishing oneself: "The willingness to give should accord with one's means, not go beyond them. The relief of others ought not to impoverish you; there should be a certain equality" (2 Corinthians 8:12-13, 1970 NAB). No other translation says it quite the same way. This is the best one.