20 Action Points for Refugees and Immigrants

From the beginning of his pontificate, using persuasive words and deeds, Pope Francis has urged the Church to accompany all people who are compelled to leave their country. In 2017, he established the Migrants and Refugees Section (M&R) to help him implement this pastoral objective. While M&R forms part of the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development under the direction of Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Section is personally guided by the Holy Father for the time being. Concerned with immediate humanitarian needs as well as long-term integral human development, the M&R Section focuses on the legal and policy frameworks which govern migration; on understanding the structural causes of forced displacement; and on achieving beneficial changes in the long run. 

Migration has four possible stages. Migrants may be leaving their place of origin; in transit; arriving, with its subsequent process of integration; and perhaps choosing or obliged to return to their former homeland. In each of these stages, what is happening and why it is happening are of great interest. The Church encourages the Catholic faithful and everyone of good will to respond personally and communally to the material and spiritual needs of asylum seekers, refugees, migrants, internally displaced persons and victims of human trafficking.

Pope Francis knows what asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees need. We should welcome and protect them, he says, we should promote and integrate them. To do all this, here are some resources you can use in your community or parish … plus some policies to advocate in your country and at the U.N. level.

20 Pastoral Action Items:

Depending where you live, you may find refugees and migrants arriving, leaving, passing through, settling, and even returning to their place of origin. This is your chance to get personally involved in practical and spiritual ways. Lend them a hand and become their neighbor.

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20 Government Action Items:
What about the laws and policies which govern human mobility in your own country and all over the world? Take these policy proposals up in your dialogue with your government and international organizations as they prepare the new Global Compacts on Migrants and on Refugees in 2018.

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Full Packet
And you can also download the full packet of all the above information, including Pope Francis' message for World Day of Peace on Migrants and Refugees. This booklet presents three documents which provide the teaching, reflections and pastoral guidance of Pope Francis regarding the various issues concerning migrants and refugees. 

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