Migrations: Msgr. Marcianò (military ordinary), “it is Christ who, in refugees, knocks on our doors”
“The theme of refugees has always accompanied the history of humanity and is particularly re-proposed in times of crisis, where it intersects with the broader theme of emigration and immigration, generated by situations of poverty, unemployment, persecution … not least, by war . And the war in Ukraine rightly re-proposed this theme in a dramatic way, especially for Europe ”. This was declared by the military ordinary, Santo Marcianò, at the International Conference of Castrensian bishops held in Vienna last few days. “Within the European continent, Italy has been facing the phenomenon for some time. A history of emigration has marked the events of many of our families who, in the first half of the twentieth century, set sail to reach South and North America in search of a job and better living conditions; history that repeats itself, albeit in a different way, due to the departure of so many young people, mainly qualified and competent professionals, from our country. Today, however, Italy is one of the European countries most affected by the phenomenon of immigration, due to its geographical position and a fundamental welcoming attitude ”.
The figure of the arrivals of migrants “should not leave the European continent indifferent, not always attentive to the phenomenon, indeed sometimes closed in a guilty indifference. Indifference that dramatically reveals its gravity more dramatically today, when the war in Ukraine re-proposes the issue of refugees in a more dramatic way ”.
Marcianò added: “It would be wrong to entrust the refugee problem exclusively to politics, which must also preserve management responsibility. It is inappropriate to overlook a phenomenon which has a lot to say to the man of the Third Millennium and which is decisive for measuring the degree of civilization. Close your ear, as it were, before the voices of which are echoes of Jesus ‘own voice, in the words addressed in the Apocalypse to the Church of Laodicea:’ Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him, I will eat with him and he with me ‘(Rev 3:20) ”. The image “is eloquent but it is also decisive. It is that of Christ who, in refugees and migrants, knocks on our doors, on the doors of Italy and Europe, on the lives of citizens and our soldiers, on the maternal heart of the Church which, by the will of Pope Francis, is celebrating the Synod, questioning the meaning of ‘walking together’. It seems to me that this journey, in the today of the Church and in the today of God, must cross the journey of our refugee brothers. I would therefore like to contemplate in them the God who stands at the door and knocks and follow the steps that he indicates, through the three words of the Synod: participation, communion, mission ”.