Seoul (AsiaNews) – Korean Catholics “must be pioneers in welcoming migrants, and accomplish the task that the Lord gave us when he said that two peoples shall be one, breaking down the wall of enmity,” said Mgr Vincent Ri Pyung-ho, bishop of Jeonju and chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the care of migrants, in his message to the Korean community of faithful on the occasion of the 93rd World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which was celebrated yesterday.
As the phenomenon of “migration spreads and develops rapidly it becomes one of those elements that makes us aware that the world changes swiftly,” he said. In fact, in South Korea this has meant about a million immigrants and almost 160,000 multicultural families.
However, despite the numbers the country is unprepared for the task. For this reason Catholics must be pioneers in welcoming immigrants,” Mgr Ri said.
On example is that of the “Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and the congregations he found: the Congregation of Missionaries for Italian Migrants and the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo for Migrants.
Finally, Mgr Ri said he was hopeful that “the will of Our Lord, who 'made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity' (Eph 2: 14), may be concretely realised thanks to our efforts, especially now that borders lose their meaning and the people of the world become one family with a common destiny.”