MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE 107th WORLD DAY
OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES 2021
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, I
expressed a concern and a hope that remain uppermost in my thoughts: “Once this
health crisis passes, our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply
into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation. God
willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and
‘those’, but only ‘us’” (No. 35).
For this reason, I have wished to devote the Message
for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees to the theme, Towards
An Ever Wider “We”, in order to indicate a clear horizon for our common
journey in this world.
The history of this “we”
That horizon is already present in God’s creative
plan: “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be
fruitful and multiply’” (Gen 1:27-28). God created us male and
female, different yet complementary, in order to form a “we” destined to become
ever more numerous in the succession of generations. God created us in his
image, in the image of his own triune being, a communion in diversity.
When, in disobedience we turned away from God, he in
his mercy wished to offer us a path of reconciliation, not as individuals but
as a people, a “we”, meant to embrace the entire human family, without
exception: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Rev 21:3).
Salvation history thus has a “we” in its beginning and
a “we” at its end, and at its centre the mystery of Christ, who died and rose
so “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). The present time,
however, shows that this “we” willed by God is broken and fragmented, wounded
and disfigured. This becomes all the more evident in moments of great crisis,
as is the case with the current pandemic. Our “we”, both in the wider world and
within the Church, is crumbling and cracking due to myopic and aggressive forms
of nationalism (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 11) and radical individualism (cf. ibid., 105). And the highest price is being paid by those
who most easily become viewed as others: foreigners, migrants, the
marginalized, those living on the existential peripheries.
The truth however is that we are all in the same boat
and called to work together so that there will be no more walls that separate
us, no longer others, but only a single “we”, encompassing all of
humanity. Thus I would like to use this World Day to address a twofold appeal, first
to the Catholic faithful and then all the men and women of our world, to
advance together towards an ever wider “we”.
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