refugees Tag

Lichterkette für den Frieden - Lichterkette für die Ukraine
GERMANY, schoenstatt.org network • A sign of solidarity: on Friday evening, more than 250 participants, candles in hand, formed a human chain from the little chapel to the Victory Column in Dietershausen (Fulda district). “We want to help and pray for the people in the war zone. We hope that the hopeless situation will be solved and the suffering in Ukraine will end,” said Ilona Wehner, a citizen from Dietershausen and initiator of the action. —   The idea came up spontaneously: “I woke up and thought that only aRead More
Mediterráneo
ITALY, Fides Agency • Today, Wednesday, February 23, the unique meeting of Catholic Bishops and Mayors of Mediterranean countries met in Florence to attest and re-propose the role of the Mediterranean Sea as a “frontier of peace”, in the wake of prophetic intuitions cultivated during the Cold War years by the great Florentine Mayor Giorgio La Pira. The meeting began this afternoon with an introduction by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, and will end on Sunday 27 with Holy Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa Croce. — DuringRead More
POPE FRANCIS, MASS WITH REFUGEES, María Fischer • In a St. Peter’s basilica filled with a spirit of solidarity for the 250 immigrants, rescuers and survivors of the Mediterranean cemetery, Pope Francis on 8 July – the anniversary of his historic visit to Lampedusa in 2013, the first planned trip of his pontificate – launched a renewed and powerful appeal to help those “symbols of all those rejected” people who migrate. “They are first of all human persons”, he said, in midst of the tension in Italy over confrontations betweenRead More
GERMANY, editorial team • Currently, Europe is mainly concerned with Brexit. Are the British going, when are they going, how will they go…? And one wonders how it is possible that the European idea, that idea of a united and free Europe, has lost its brightness to such an extent that it has been reduced to a purely economic interest. Meanwhile, thousands of migrants and refugees are dying in the Mediterranean. Cardinal Marx, the President of the German Bishops Conference, made a clear statement last weekend at the presentation ofRead More
POPE FRANCIS – MESSAGES AND GESTURES • “I believe, based on several messages, that some Christians are uncertain whether or not it is ethical, good or bad, to rescue the immigrants who are in obvious danger of being shipwrecked and dying. I find it positive that the Holy Father has resolved this uncertainty for them,” commented José Antonio Cerezuela on Twitter. He is from Barcelona and describes himself as “one more among 8 billion. Trying to post a positive tweet every day.” Either way, this is a positive tweet, togetherRead More
By Maria Fischer • “They look like illegal migrants,” seems to say the border official at one of these borders crowded by hundreds of migrants and refugees, who, according to public opinion and even some emerging political parties choose “our country first,” threaten the culture, well-being and security of leading countries. Someone like the person who is approaching this border from the other side: a man in shabby clothes, a woman who looks far too young to already have a child and who now presents her baby who is justRead More
WORLD DAY OF PEACE • The World Day of Peace was celebrated on 1 January 2018 and Pope Francis chose this as the theme for this year: “Migrants and refugees: men and women in search of peace.” In his message for this day, the pontiff warned against those who sow fear towards those who have been displaced and talks about how it is necessary to “welcome, protect, promote and integrate” these groups to “transform cities into places of peace.” “Migrants and refugees: men and women in search of peace” PopeRead More
EUROPE, Maria Fischer with material from Santegidio.org • “More than 3,100 people have already drowned in the Mediterranean this year.  Now for the first time, Italy’s military has brought refugees directly from Libya.  The Italian Church makes this possible,” according to a message that went around the world on Christmas Eve.  Italy’s Church in collaboration with the Community of Sant’Egidio, a small and highly committed ecclesial movement founded in 1968. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, received an audience with Pope Francis on the morning of December 22,Read More
Maria Fischer • His nose just about reached the rim of the baptismal font if he stretched hard enough. It didn’t satisfy him, so he hopped and jumped again and again while his eyes shone with irrepressible joy and impatience. During the Litany of the Saints we would have loved to pour over him a whole bath of baptismal water and soak him in a completely unorthodox way. … The sight of this young catechumen, and the thought of the bath of baptismal water, gave rise to so much joyRead More
ITALY/EUROPEAN UNION, by Álvaro Real, vía Aleteia.org • 700 people have been taken in during the last year, thanks to the humanitarian corridor made possible by the San Egidio Community.  This is a record number if we take into account the statistics of refugees being taken into European Union countries. This initiative has made it possible to take in more refugees in 2016 than those taken in by the 15 countries of the European Union. This project has had unprecedented success after just one year in existence, and allows refugeesRead More