Message from the Major Superiors of the Comboni Missionaries in Europe

MESSAGE FROM THE MAJOR SUPERIORS OF THE COMBONI MISSIONARIES IN EUROPE

“Before the challenges of contemporary movements of migration, the only reasonable response is one of solidarity and mercy.”
(Pope Francis, July 6^th 2018)

We, the Major Superiors of the Comboni Missionaries in Europe, meeting at our annual Assembly (Sunningdale: July 12^th/14^th, 2018)

• are deeply perturbed by the fact that Europe appears to be losing its humanitarian ethos by closing its doors to refugees and migrants and pushing its borders to the African shores, thereby putting the lives of many human beings at risk and of enslavement in Libya in clear contravention of its obligations under international humanitarian law;
• condemn the closure of European ports to migrants in distress at sea;
• note that insecurity and criminality in Europe have their principal roots in local problems rather than with the phenomenon of migration;
• support wholeheartedly the prophetic voices and gestures of those Comboni Missionaries standing by refugees and migrants;
• follow the lead from Pope Francis and other Church voices in pleading with our Confrères to be the voice of refugees and migrants, “the poorest and most abandoned” in our midst today;
• urge all people of good will to denounce such injustice, particularly the rise of racism and xenophobia.

Sunningdale: July 14^th 2018
The Major Superiors of the Comboni Missionaries in Europe