The celebration of the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (GMMR) was held this morning, entitled "It is not just about migrants".
The Pope presided in St. Peter's Square over a special mass for all vulnerable people on the move. Subsequently, a life-size sculpture of the Canadian artist Timothy P. Schmalz - called "Angels Unawares" - was inaugurated. It is depicting a group of migrants and refugees from different cultural and racial backgrounds and different historical periods.
The celebration, organized by the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and prepared through a specific communication campaign, was attended by the Prefect of the Dicastery, Card. Peter Turkson, together with the Sub-Secretaries of the Section, P. Michael Czerny, SJ, and P. Fabio Baggio, CS.
The Message for the World Day was presented May 27, 2019 in the Holy See Press Office. On that occasion Pope Francis had written:
"The most economically advanced societies develop within themselves the tendency to a marked individualism which, combined with the utilitarian mentality and multiplied by the media network, produces the" globalization of indifference ". In this scenario, migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking have become emblems of exclusion because, in addition to the hardships that their condition entails, they are often charged with a negative judgment that considers them as the cause of social ills. The attitude towards them is an alarm bell that warns of the moral decline to which one is faced if one continues to grant land to the culture of waste. In fact, on this path, every subject that does not fall within the canons of physical, mental and social well-being becomes at risk of marginalization and exclusion ”.