A few days after the death of dozens of people in yet another shipwreck of a migrant boat, the local Church denounces the anaesthesia of consciences and short-sighted and ineffective policies. Bishop Fortunato Morrone, president of the Episcopal Conference of Calabria, calls for “Europe to have global governance of the migratory phenomenon”. He also underlines the role of the Church in helping migrants.
Federico Piana – Vatican City
The voice of the Calabrian Church rises again, ever louder. This time to denounce what the bishops call a new anonymous and invisible tragedy at sea. They keep in mind the images of the terrible shipwreck that occurred in mid-June, 200 kilometers from the Italian coast, and they cannot forget either the dozens of dead, including many children, or the lost and devastated looks of the survivors who disembarked in the port of Roccella.
Faced with the shock, the bishops of southern Italy are protesting against the anaesthesia of consciences and against short-sighted political measures, incapable of preventing such tragedies.
The poison of addiction
According to Archbishop Fortunato Morrone of Reggio Calabria-Bova and president of the Calabria Episcopal Conference (CEC), indifference is one of the evils that poison politics, including European politics.
«These massacres of migrants are repeated too often and all this unfortunately creates a habit” he told the Vatican media. But he then explained that at some point, indifference will have to settle its debts with the sea, which constantly brings its share of disasters and deaths.
Global governance
The Calabrian bishops hope that migratory dynamics will soon be managed globally by a single governance, at least on European territory. “Pope Francis also writes this in an entire chapter of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti», affirms Mgr Morrone. And it is precisely to Europe that the president of the Calabrian episcopate reminds that “humanity has always been – and always will be – in continuous movement and therefore, on the migratory front, it seems useless to work urgently. Europe must be a community of nations and not of nationalisms. A broad political perspective is necessary».
The Church on the front line
The complex reception machine that the Calabrian Church manages to put into motion in the ports whenever there are men, women and children to rescue and support testifies to the concrete commitment of so many volunteers who spend their lives being faithful to the Gospel. “All my thanks go to themadds the archbishop, because they are bearers of hope. But I would also like to emphasize another thing: their in-depth work compensates for the shortcomings of our administrations. And it’s not nothing».
