The Pope offers an approach
for dealing with immigrants
by Bruno Mastroianni
Translated from
One must begin at the heart of the problem. One must begin with the meaning of the person. An immigrant is a human being - different in origin, culture and traditions, but a person to be respected, with rights and duties, especially in the area of employment, where the temptation to exploit them is easy, but also in their concrete living conditions.
Violence should never be - for anyone - the way to resolve difficulties. The problem is human above all! I call on everyone to look at the face of the other and to discover that he has a soul, a history and a life - he is a person, and God loves him as he loves me.
- Benedict XVI, Angelus, 1/10/2010
The Pope's appeal on behalf of immigrants last Sunday was not a defense of immigrant status as such nor a generic condemnation of violence.
It was a direct challenge to a problem that has afflicted more advanced societies for some time: the addiction to 'current events'.
The ability to follow information in the continuous evolution of every news event has given rise to a widespread habit to consider every issue in the same way, convinced that an appropriate prescription can be applied to every problem as it arises.
It has become like a game of tennis in which every hit by the opponent (the problem) must be met with an equal but opposite reaction (the solution).
It is a risk that is continually present: it gives the illusion that one is up-to-date and vigilant, but in the long run, it can and does diminish the ability to place things in the right perspective, leading to obtuse and ineffectual responses.
That is why the Pope, at last Sunday's Angelus, in a few simple words, called for a return to the 'heart' of the (immigration) problem.
Immigration is a serious matter, leading to problems that were neither born in Rosarno [town in southern Italy where local gangs beat up on immigrant farm workers] nor end there.
Nor can it be reduced - as it is all the time - by the mediatic juxtaposition of the inconvenience to the host natives (which demands rigorous protections by the law) and the pitiful conditions of the 'guests' (which arouse brotherly sentiments of solidarity).
Immigration requires a far more demanding effort: "One must begin from the meaning of the person", the Pope reminds us.
And that is not a charitable line to soften the harshness of the situation. It is a call to the West
[as the object of unprecedented migrations in recent times] to rediscover that which in the past made it rise to the level of the most demanding challenges.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/01/2010 14:00]