Migrants

According to Philippine government estimates, by 2023 the number of migrants working abroad will reach 2 million. The Church remembers their sacrifices and envisages the creation of a personal prelature for their pastoral care in the world. Along with them - on the same Day - attention is also paid to seafarers, whose work for long periods at sea is often forgotten by all.

At the Angelus on Migrant and Refugee Day Pope Francis thanks the Italian Church for welcoming initiatives. "God does not count on our goodness but on the generosity of His grace".

After the meeting with society's most vulnerable in the house of Mother Teresa's nuns, the speech at the Rencontres Méditerranéennes. "Just saying 'enough' to migration means turning a blind eye to the future: integration is tiring, but it prepares the future." The invitation to the Churches of the different shores of the Mediterranean: evaluate the opportunity of a joint Episcopal Conference.

At the end of the Marian prayer, the pontiff mentioned "Rencontres Méditerranéennes", which he plans to attend, calling it a "fine initiative" that can "promote paths of peace". The pope urged the faithful to pray for the Ukrainian people and every land "bloodstained" by war. He also noted that the Gospel encourages “forgiveness" to “defuse anger and heal so many maladies of the heart that contaminate society.”

Founded in 1996 by a US US Christian activist and his wife, the NGO sends food, medicine and necessities to poor North Koreans. Via an “underground route”, it gets escapees out to safety in neighbouring countries. Its Christian ethic attracts volunteers, including non-believers.

The Lebanese are alarmed by the illegal flow of people across the border paying up to US$ 100 to smugglers. The army turned back more than 1,500 people in just one week in late August, but the border is too long for proper monitoring. Opposition MP Melhem Khalaf warns of the “risk of asphyxiation” of Lebanon.

According to data provided by Mexico in one year, the number of migrants trying to enter the United States illegally from Central Asia has doubled. Many are workers who have Russian passports and are fleeing to avoid being drafted and ending up on the front lines in Ukraine.

A study entitled "Migrants and the earthquake" highlights the critical issues of a large portion of the population affected by the earthquake but on the margins of the aid chain. Even today there is profound uncertainty about the real number of dead. Ankara wants to repatriate at least one million out of 3.5 million. School dropout among children will eventually fuel child labour.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has virtually inaugurated the program that extends the social security system to the entire population, hitherto reserved only for civil servants. All citizens between the ages of 18 and 50 will be able to join one of four different pension plans. Emigrants abroad will pay the fee in foreign currency but will receive the pension in taka once they turn 65.

Originating in southern India 200 years ago, they migrated to what was then Ceylon. A 15-day walk to relaunch their battle for dignity and against exploitation. Catholics, Protestants and Buddhists have joined the initiative. Sister Deepa Fernando tells AsiaNews: "shameful" the attitude of the authorities and the government, they are "the backbone" of the economy.

At the end of the Marian prayer, the pontiff addressed young people in St Peter's Square, who participated in the recent WYD in Lisbon. He lamented again the latest tragedy involving migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, and called for peace in Cameroon and "tormented Ukraine". Citing the Gospel, he mentioned the presence of Jesus who "saves".

For the Archeparch of Damascus, the family unit was "united and close-knit". There was "an abundance of vocations." Now it is rare to find an "entire family” with exiled fathers, sick or depressed mothers, and children abroad. From 120 in 2019, today only 37 seminarians are left. For Christians in the Syrian capital, praying at the Shrine of the Martyrs is their Wall of Lamentation.