Vatican City, Sep 21, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The consequences of the enlargement of the European Union for the Church's pastoral care for migrants in Europe was the theme of the meeting of the Commission for Migration and the European Directors for the Pastoral Care of Migrants of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) in Mechelen, Belgium, from September 17-19.
During the three days the bishops present discussed the Council’s document on the Catholic Church’s pastoral care for migrants, 'Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi', a theological reflection by Fr. Beniamino Rossi, regional superior of the Scalabrini Fathers, on the policy of the European Union on asylum and refugees, and European Union migration policy and its consequences.
On Sunday September 19 the participants, who included Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and representatives from 24 bishops’ conferences as well as Caritas, the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, the Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Community and the International Catholic Migration Commission, drafted a concluding statement which included recommendations for European bishops on the issue.