The cardinal charged with overseeing the Vatican’s study and response of the global migratory phenomena called for expanded legal pathways for migrants and called out a misrepresentative “negative narrative” about the church’s migration work.
Cardinal Fabio Baggio, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Vatican’s chief reference point on migration, told the National Catholic Reporter Feb. 19 that Pope Leo XIV shares the “the same pastoral concern” on migration as Pope Francis, who made caring for migrants a cornerstone of his pontificate.
In the same conversation, conducted in Italian, the cardinal pushed back on criticism that the church engages in issues around migration because it seeks funding from governments, stating that the global Catholic Church often acts to support migrants “without the necessary funds to do so.”
Migrants present in countries in irregular situations, he said, “are children of God and persons knocking at the door of charity from our communities” who must not be discriminated against.
The cardinal said that Leo, who he meets with monthly, is on the “right path” in how he engages with local churches in effecting responses on issues around migration. Baggio said the technocratic challenges before the pope and the church include “artificial intelligence that will affect employment and a widespread sense of producing elite communities” that disproportionately hoard society’s resources.
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With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Justin McLellan, where this article originally appeared.
