Message of Pope John Paul for Japanese bishops in Rome for their ad limina visit,2001

"Challenge is to Present the Asian Face of Jesus"

Saturday, 31 March 2001

Dear Brother Bishops,

1. Rejoicing in "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3:8), I welcome you, the Bishops of Japan, on your visit ad Limina Apostolorum, a veritable pilgrimage in the spirit of communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter. Through you, I greet the entire household of God in your land, "giving thanks at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership in the Gospel" (Phil 1:3-4).

In the Year of the Great Jubilee, the whole Church gave thanks for the endless graces of the two thousand years since the Saviour’s birth; and in greeting you now, I cannot fail to praise God for the heritage of Christian faith which has flourished in Japan from the day when Saint Francis Xavier first set foot on your shores. The early missionaries taught the Christians of Japan a profound reverence for the majesty of God, a high esteem for the Redemption, a fervent love for the crucified Saviour and a resolute shunning of sin. They appealed to your people’s innate sense of the transience of earthly things and fearlessness in the face of death, stirring in them a love for the things of heaven and the eternity found above. As a result, the early centuries of Christianity in Japan were indelibly marked by the courage and steadfastness of your martyrs. Their heroic witness not only adorns your past with the splendor of the crucified Lord, it also indicates the path of the present and future vocation and commitment of Japanese Christians.

2. In the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, I pondered the story of the miraculous catch of fish which we find in the Gospel of Saint Luke (5:1-11). Duc in altum!: these were the words that echoed in my mind as I looked back upon the grace of the Great Jubilee and forward to the future for which the Jubilee was an excellent preparation. Not only in Japan, but in many parts of the world, Pastors can be left feeling as Peter did when Jesus commanded him to cast his nets out into the deep for a catch. We labor with all our might to make a catch; yet at times we are left feeling that we have caught little or nothing and that, for the time being at least, there is nothing there to catch. Yet Jesus says: Put out your nets! Faith assures us that the Lord knows our world better than we do, that he sees into the deep waters of the human soul and of the culture which you are called to evangelize.

History shows that times which seem particularly difficult for the proclamation of Jesus Christ and resistant to his Gospel can also be the most rewarding. There are in fact many signs of a widespread hunger for the deeper things of the Spirit (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 33). Christ is calling us to "an exciting work of pastoral revitalization" (ibid.,29). With imagination and courage we must seek to apply to the world of our day the ageless program of the Gospel, and to present to all who will listen the endlessly attractive figure of the Lord Jesus and the truth of his Gospel, "the power of God for salvation" (Rom 1:16).

3. The necessary inculturation of the faith in the context of Japanese society cannot be the result of a preconceived plan or theory, but must be born of the lived experience of the whole People of God in a continuous dialogue of salvation with the society in which they live. In guiding this dialogue, the Pastors of the Church in Asia have a delicate and vitally important duty to fulfil, which the Special Assembly for Asia of the Synod of Bishops dealt with at length, offering guidelines which I reported in the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia. The close bonds between religion, culture and society make it particularly difficult for the followers of Asia’s great religions to be open to the mystery of the Incarnation and to conceive of Jesus as the one and only Savior. The proclamation of Christ therefore requires a careful and protracted effort to translate exactly the truths of the faith into categories more readily accessible to Asian sensibilities and the mentality of your people. The challenge is to present the "Asian face of Jesus" in a way that is in perfect harmony with the Church’s whole mystical, philosophical and theological tradition.

The Good News of God’s love manifested in Jesus Christ is good news for everyone, for it concerns the meaning of our human existence and destiny. As the well-known text of the Second Vatican Council states: "It is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear" (Gaudium et Spes, 22). At a time when many are confused about the meaning of life or are searching for a light to clarify the many existential and moral questions which trouble them, the truth about our human condition is the essential basis for building a culture and a society worthy of the image of God inherent in every man and woman. When there is an effort to build progress and prosperity without reference to God, bringing incalculable damage to the dignity of the human person, the Church has a duty to remind people of what is essential: the truth, goodness, justice and respect for all. To present this reality is a fundamental form of solidarity with our fellow human beings. To proclaim this to society is an excellent form of pastoral charity.

4. In responding to the yearning of the human spirit, we fully rely on God’s grace while we recognize also the need for careful and confident pastoral planning (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 29). The challenges before your pastoral ministry are many and complex. Happily now, the right to religious freedom is fully recognized in your land and the days of persecution are a thing of the past. Yet pressures of another kind have emerged to beset the faith and challenge your ministry. Some of these challenges are common to the Church in all developed countries, and others are particular to your own country.

As so often happens, affluence brings with it an array of problems, the roots of which are to be found in the human heart. While some enjoy the benefits of material progress, others are left at the margins, in new and sometimes particularly degrading forms of poverty. When a consumerist mentality takes hold, people are absorbed by the concern for "having", to the detriment of "being". The harmony of the spirit is fragmented, and the result is dissatisfaction and the inability to build interpersonal relationships and assume a commitment of self-giving love and service of others. How many people, even among the affluent, are threatened by despair at the lack of meaning in their lives, by fear of abandonment in old age or sickness, by marginalization or social discrimination! Some of the ways in which people seek relief are extremely self-defeating and destructive of individuals and society: violence, drugs and suicide come immediately to mind. But, as Pastors of souls, you are fully aware of the truth of what Saint Paul writes to the Romans: "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (5:20). It is your confidence in this grace of God which gives you hope and strength in facing the challenges before you, and it is true pastoral charity which urges you to gather all the energies of the communities entrusted to your pastoral care in a great and generous effort to bring the Gospel to bear more visibly and more effectively on the situation in which you live.

5. In the climate of prayer surrounding your visits to the tombs of the Apostles it will perhaps be more easy to reaffirm that the goal of all pastoral planning and activity is holiness according to the standards of the Beatitudes (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). The call to holiness, while it applies in specific ways to Bishops, priests and Religious men and women, is, as Chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium stresses, a universal call. There are different ministries and different roles in the Church, but this cannot mean that some are called to holiness and others are not. Everyone who is baptized is drawn into the holiness of God, and therefore "it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity" (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31).

In a sense, the holiness of clergy and religious is intended as a service to lay people, enabling them to grow more and more in the way of holiness, so that they can fulfil their baptismal vocation. A laity imbued with Christian virtue to a heroic degree is not a novelty in the history of the Church in Japan. In the list of your martyrs the names of lay people figure prominently, and when difficulties persisted for long periods it was the laity who passed on an ardent faith from one generation to the next. The truth is that holy Pastors will produce holy lay people, and from among those holy lay people there will come the vocations to the priesthood and religious life which the Church needs in every time and place. We must keep this vision of complementarity and collaboration in mind, so that the relationship between clergy and laity will reflect more and more the communion (koinonia) which is the Church’s very nature.

6. One of the principal objectives of your pastoral planning in union with your collaborators will be to help Christian communities in Japan to become more than ever "genuine schools of prayer", "where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly ‘falls in love�Equot; (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 33). Such prayer is more than comfort and strength in the disciple’s life: it is also the well-spring of evangelization. It is from a new depth of prayer and contemplation that a "new evangelization" will come.

A specific renewal of pastoral activity and methodology is required in parishes and communities which are being transformed by an influx of immigrants, many of whom are Catholics. These brothers and sisters in the faith are in most cases going through the difficulties of adjusting to an unfamiliar situation with very little resources. They are often friendless, linguistically disadvantaged and culturally estranged, with negative consequences for work opportunities, the education of their children and even necessary services such as health care and legal protection. Many are not well instructed in the faith, and are greatly in need of spiritual as well as material support. Every effort must be made to meet their legitimate needs and to make them feel welcome in the Catholic community. The Church cannot but oppose all forms of discrimination and injustice, working with determination to act on behalf of those who are exploited or have no voice of their own.

A "new evangelization" in Japan will also mean a discerning but generous openness to the communities and movements which the Holy Spirit is raising up in the Church as a special fruit of the Second Vatican Council. It is often in such groups that people, especially the young, find the spiritual fervor and experience of community which leads them to a personal encounter with Christ and makes them in turn missionaries of the new millennium. Clearly these communities and movements have to work in union with the Bishops and priests, and in full harmony with the pastoral life of the local Churches. It is the Bishops�Etask to "test everything and hold fast what is good" (1 Th 5:21).

7. Dear Brother Bishops, the good seed has been planted in the rich soil of Japan (cf. Lk 8:8, 15). The work of Saint Francis Xavier and the first missionaries, which has borne such fruit in the past, will continue to bear abundant fruit as long as their memory is cherished and venerated. The witness of the Japanese martyrs will not cease to show forth "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:6); the heroic fidelity of those Japanese Christians who secretly held to their faith for centuries despite persecution and a lack of priests is surely a guarantee that the fruitful encounter between the faith and Japanese culture can come about at the deepest levels of mind and heart.

Entrusting you, and the priests, religious and all Christ’s faithful in Japan to Mary, "Mother of the New Creation and Mother of Asia" (Ecclesia in Asia, 51), I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in her divine Son.

Message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 1995-1996

"UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The phenomenon of migration with its complex problems challenges the international community and individual States today more than ever. The latter generally tend to intervene by tightening migration laws and reinforcing border control systems. Thus migration loses that dimension of economic, social and cultural development which it had in the past. In fact, there is less and less talk of the situation of "emigrants" in their countries of origin, and more and more of "immigrants", with respect to the problems they create in the countries where they settle.

Migration is assuming the features of a social emergency, above all because of the increase in illegal migrants which, despite the current restrictions, it seems impossible to halt. Illegal immigration has always existed: it has frequently been tolerated because it promotes a reserve of personnel to draw on as legal migrants gradually move up the social ladder and find stable employment.

2. Today the phenomenon of illegal migrants has assumed considerable proportions, both because the supply of foreign labour is becoming excessive in comparison to the needs of the economy, which already has difficulty in absorbing its domestic workers, and because of the spread of forced migration. The necessary prudence required to deal with so delicate a matter cannot become one of reticence or exclusivity, because thousands would suffer the consequences as victims of situations that seem destined to deteriorate instead of being resolved. His irregular legal status cannot allow the migrant to lose his dignity, since he is endowed with inalienable rights, which can neither be violated nor ignored.

Illegal immigration should be prevented, but it is also essential to combat vigorously the criminal activities which exploit illegal immigrants. The most appropriate choice, which will yield consistent and long-lasting results is that of international co-operation which aims to foster political stability and to eliminate underdevelopment. The present economic and social imbalance, which to a large extent encourages the migratory flow, should not be seen as something inevitable, but as a challenge to the human race's sense of responsibility.

3. The Church considers the problem of illegal migrants from the standpoint of Christ, who died to gather together the dispersed children of God (cf. Jn 11:52), to rehabilitate the marginalized and to bring close those who are distant, in order to integrate all within a communion that is not based on ethnic, cultural or social membership, but on the common desire to accept God's word and to seek justice. "God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35).

The Church acts in continuity with Christ's mission. In particular, she asks herself how to meet the needs, while respecting the law of those persons who are not allowed to remain in a national territory. She also asks what the right to emigrate is worth without the corresponding right to immigrate. She tackles the problem of how to involve in this work of solidarity those Christian communities frequently infected by a public opinion that is often hostile to immigrants.

The first way to help these people is to listen to them in order to become acquainted with their situation, and, whatever their legal status with regard to State law, to provide them with the necessary means of subsistence.

Thus it is important to help illegal migrants to complete the necessary administrative papers to obtain a residence permit. Social and charitable institutions can make contact with the authorities in order to seek appropriate, lawful solutions to various cases. This kind of effort should be made especially on behalf of those who, after a long stay, are so deeply rooted in the local society that returning to their country of origin would be tantamount to a form of reverse emigration, with serious consequences particularly for the children.

4. When no solution is foreseen, these same institutions should direct those they are helping, perhaps also providing them with material assistance, either to seek acceptance in other countries, or to return to their own country

In the search for a solution to the problem of migration in general and illegal migrants in particular, the attitude of the host society has an important role to play. In this perspective, it is very important that public opinion be properly informed about the true situation in the migrants' country of origin, about the tragedies involving them and the possible risks of returning. The poverty and misfortune with which immigrants are stricken are yet another reason for coming generously to their aid.

It is necessary to guard against the rise of new forms of racism or xenophobic behaviour, which attempt to make these brothers and sisters of ours scapegoats for what may be difficult local situations.

Due to the considerable proportions reached by the illegal migrant phenomenon, legislation in all the countries involved should be brought into harmony, also for a more equitable distribution of the burdens of a balanced solution. It is necessary to avoid recourse to the use of administrative regulations, meant to restrict the criterion of family membership which result in unjustifiably forcing into an illegal situation people whose right to live with their family cannot be denied by any law.

Adequate protection should be guaranteed to those who, although they have fled from their countries for reasons unforeseen by international conventions, could indeed be seriously risking their life were they obliged to return to their homeland.

5. I urge the particular Churches to encourage reflection, to issue directives and to provide information to help pastoral and social workers to act with discernment in so delicate and complex a matter.

When an understanding of the problem is conditioned by prejudice andR> nophobic attitudes, the Church must not fail to speak up for brotherhood and to accompany it with acts testifying to the primacy of charity.

The prominence assumed by the welfare aspects of their precarious situation should not mean that less attention is paid to the fact that there are often Catholic Christians among the illegal migrants who, in the name of the same faith, often seek pastors of souls and places where they can pray, listen to God's word and celebrate the Lord's mysteries. Dioceses have the duty to meet these needs.

In the Church no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere. As a sacrament of unity and thus a sign and a binding force for the whole human race, the Church is the place where illegal immigrants are also recognized and accepted as brothers and sisters. It is the task of the various Dioceses actively to ensure that these people, who are obliged to live outside the safety net of civil society, may find a sense of brotherhood in the Christian community.

Solidarity means taking responsibility for those in trouble. For Christians, the migrant is not merely an individual to be respected in accordance with the norms established by law, but a person whose presence challenges them and whose needs become an obligation for their responsibility. "What have you done to your brother?" (cf. Gn 4:9). The answer should not be limited to what is imposed by law, but should be made in the manner of solidarity.

6. Man, particularly if he is weak, defenceless, driven to the margins of society, is a sacrament of Christ's presence (cf. Mt 25:40, 45). "But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed" (Jn 7:49), was how the Pharisees judged those whom Jesus had helped even beyond the limits established by their precepts. Indeed, he came to seek and to save the lost (cf. Lk 19:10), to bring back the excluded, the abandoned, those rejected by society.

"I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35). It is the Church's task not only to present constantly the Lord's teaching of faith but also to indicate its appropriate application to the various situations which the changing times continue to create. Today the illegal migrant comes before us like that "stranger" in whom Jesus asks to be recognized. To welcome him and to show him solidarity is a duty of hospitality and fidelity to Christian identity itself.

With these wishes, I impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of abundant heavenly rewards to all those who are involved in the field of migration.

From the Vatican, 25 July 1995, the seventeenth year of my Pontificate.

Message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 1996-1997

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The circumstances of migrants and the painful misfortunes of refugees, sometimes insufficiently taken into account by public opinion, cannot fail to inspire deep sympathy and interest in believers. With this message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, in addition to expressing my constant attention to the often dramatic situation of those who leave their own homeland, I intend to invite Bishops, parish priests, consecrated persons, parish groups, ecclesial associations and volunteer groups to become increasingly aware of this phenomenon. The next World Day will afford the opportunity to reflect on the conditions of migrants and refugees and will be an incentive to identify their priority needs and to work out responses more in harmony with the respect of their dignity as persons and the duty to accept them.

The migratory phenomenon emerges today as a mass movement which largely involves the poor and needy, driven from their own countries by armed conflicts, precarious economic conditions, political, ethnic and social conflicts and natural catastrophes. But those who leave their country for other reasons are also numerous. The development of the means of transport, the rapidity of the spread of information, the multiplication of social relationships, more widespread prosperity, more free time and the growth of cultural interests have caused the movement of persons to acquire macroscopic and frequently uncontrollable dimensions, bringing a multiplicity of cultures to almost all the metropolises and giving rise to new social and economic conditions.

Then by mingling people of different religions in the fabric of daily coexistence, migration has made this one of the elements of social diversification. The coun-tries in this category which have experienced the most tangible changes are certainly those in the West, with a Christian majority. In some of these the plurality of religions is not only widespread, but has also taken root, because the migratory flow has long existed. Some governments have already granted certain more substantial religious groups the status of a recognized religion, with the benefits that this implies in matters of protection, qualifications, freedom of action and financial support for cultural and social initiatives.

The Church, recognizing freedom of worship for every human being, is favourable to such legislation. Indeed, holding the members of the different religions in esteem and respect, she desires to establish effective relations of collaboration with them, and in a climate of trust and dialogue, she intends to cooperate to solve problems emerging in today's society.

2. The task of proclaiming the word of God, entrusted by Jesus to the Church, has been interwoven with the history of Christian emigration from the very beginning. In the Encyclical Redemptoris missio, I recalled that "in the early centuries, Christianity spread because Christians, traveling to or settling in regions where Christ had not yet been proclaimed, bore courageous witness to their faith and founded the first communities there" (n. 82).

This has also happened in recent times. I wrote in 1989: "Often, flourishing Christian communities started out as small colonies of migrants which, under the leadership of a priest, met in humble buildings to hear the Word of God and to beg him for courage to face the trials and sacrifices of their difficult life" (Message for World Migration Day, n. 2, Insegnamenti XII, 2. p. 491; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 30 October, 1989, p. 8). Many peoples came to know Christ through migrants who arrived from the lands evangelized in ancient times.

Today the trend in migratory movement has been as it were inverted. It is non-Christians, increasingly numerous, who go to countries with a Christian tradition in search of work and better living conditions, and they frequently do so as illegal immigrants and refugees. This causes complex problems which are not easy to solve. For her part, the Church, like the Good Samaritan, feels it her duty to be close to the illegal immigrant and refugee, contemporary icon of the despoiled traveler, beaten and abandoned on side of the road to Jericho (cf. Lk 10:30). She goes towards him, pouring "on his wounds the oil of consolation and the wine of hope" (Roman Missal, Common Preface VII), feeling herself called to be a living sign of Christ, who came that all might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).

In this way she acts in the spirit of Christ and follows in his steps, at the same time attending to the proclamation of the Good News and to solidarity towards others, elements which are intimately united in the Church's activity.

3. However, the urgent need to go to the help of migrants in the precarious situations in which they often live must not hinder the proclamation of the ultimate realities on which Christian hope is founded. To evan-gelize is to account to everyone for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pt 3:15).

The contemporary world, frequently scarred by injustice and selfishness, nonetheless shows surprising concern for the defence of the weak and the poor. Among Christians, in recent years, a longing for solidarity has been recorded, a longing which spurs to a more effective witness to the Gospel of charity. However, love and service to the poor must not lead to underesti-mating the need for faith, bringing out an artificial separation in the Lord's one commandment, that invites us to love both God and our neighbour simultaneously.

The Church's commitment to migrants and refugees cannot be reduced merely to organizing structures of hospitality and solidarity. This attitude would impoverish the riches of the ecclesial vocation, called in the first place to transmit the faith, which "is strengthened when it is given to others" (Redemptoris missio, n. 2). At the end of our life we will be judged on love, on the acts of charity we have done to the "least" of our brothers and sisters (cf. Mt 25:31-45), but also on the courage and fidelity with which we have witnessed to Christ. In the Gospel he said: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 10:32-33).

For the Christian, every activity has its beginning and its end in Christ: the baptized person acts, spurred by love for him, and knows that even the effectiveness of his actions springs from belonging to him: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). In imitation of Jesus and the Apostles, who follow up the preaching of the kingdom by concrete signs of its fulfilment (Acts 1:1; Mk 6:30), the Christian evangelizes by words and deeds, both the fruit of faith in Christ. Actions, in fact, are his "active faith", while words are his "eloquent faith". Since there is no evangelization without, in consequence, charitable actions, there is no authentic charity without the spirit of the Gospel: they are two intimately linked aspects.

4. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4). The true pastor, even when he is harassed by enormous practical problems, never forgets that migrants have need of God, and that many seek him with a sincere heart. Like the disciples of Emmaus, however, their eyes are often incapable of recognizing him (cf. Lk 24:16). They should therefore also be offered a presence which, guiding and listening to them, makes the Word of God resound, makes their hearts beat with hope and guides them to the meeting with the risen Christ. This is the Church's missionary path: to go to meet women and men of every race, tongue and nation with friendship and love, sharing their conditions in an evangelical spirit, to break the bread of truth and charity for them.

It is the apostolic style which shines through the missionary experience of the first Christian communities, in the account of Philip's preaching to the minister of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, (cf. Acts 8:27-40) and in the episode of the Apostle Paul's dream (cf. ibid., 18:9-11). The latter, active in the city of Corinth whose population was largely composed of immigrants working in the port, is urged by the Lord not to be afraid, to continue to "speak and not to be silent" and to trust in the saving power of the wisdom of the Cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:26-27).

The events of the Apostle Paul as told in Acts testify that, guided by the firm conviction that salvation is in Christ alone, he was totally dedicated to taking every opportunity to proclaim the Messiah. He lived this commitment as a duty: "For if I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). Indeed he was aware of the right of those whom he was addressing to receive the saving proclamation. In this regard, my venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI, said in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi: "Neither ... the complexity of the questions raised is an invitation to the Church to withhold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ. On the contrary the Church holds that these multitudes have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ riches in which we believe that the whole of humanity can find, in unsuspected fullness, everything that it is gropingly searching for concerning God, man and his destiny, life and death, and truth" (n. 53).

5. John's Gospel stresses that Christ's death was ordained "to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52). The same Gospel recounts that during the feast of the Passover, some Greeks approached Philip and asked him if they could see Jesus (cf. Jn 12:21). Philip, consulting with Andrew, spoke to the Lord who answered: "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified .... Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me ..." (Jn 12:23-26).

They are the Greeks, that is, the pagans, who want to meet the Saviour, and the answer, at first, seems to have no connection with the request. But in the light of what will happen on Calvary, we understand that the lifting up on the Cross is the condition for the glorification of Christ with the Father and with mankind, and that only the dynamism of the paschal mystery completely fulfils men's desire to see him and to communicate with him. The Church is called to establish an intense dialogue with humanity, not only to transmit authentic values to them, but above all to reveal Christ's mystery, because only in him does the person reach his truest dimension. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:32). This "drawing", integrates us into the communion of charit‰ï‚Íd, making us capable of forgiveness and reciprocal love, achieves authentic human advancement.

Aware of being the place where people must be able "to see Jesus" and experience his love, the Church fulfils her mission by striving to offer, in the logic of the Cross, an ever more convincing witness of the gratuitous, unlimited love of the Redeemer, "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).

1997 will be the first year of the triennium of preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, during which Christians will be called to focus their gaze particularly on the figure of Christ. To each I renew the invitation to intensify communion with Jesus and, through charity, to make faith in him active (cf. Gal 5:6), with particular openness of spirit to those who are in need and difficulty. Thus the proclamation of the Gospel will be more eloquent and an ever living message of hope and love to the men and women of every age.

With these wishes I cordially impart a special Apostolic Blessing to migrants and refugees, and to all those who in love assume the burden of their difficult plight.

From Castel Gandolfo, August 21, 1996

Message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 1998

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The Church looks with deep pastoral concern at the increased flow of migrants and refugees, and questions herself about the causes of this phenomenon and the particular conditions of those who are forced for various reasons to leave their homeland. In fact, the situation of the world's migrants and refugees seems ever more precarious. Violence sometimes obliges entire populations to leave their homeland to escape repeated atrocities; more frequently, it is poverty and the lack of prospects for development which spur individuals and families to go into exile, to seek ways to survive in distant lands, where it is not easy to find a suitable welcome.

Many initiatives aim at alleviating the hardships and sufferings of migrants and refugees. I express my deep appreciation of those who are dedicated to them, together with a cordial encouragement to continue generously supporting them, overcoming the many difficulties they meet on the way. In addition to the problems connected with cultural, social and sometimes even religious barriers, there are those associated with other phenomena such as the unemployment that afflicts even countries which have been the traditional destination of immigrants, the break-up of families, the lack of services and the precarious situation of so many aspects of daily life. Morever, the host community fears the loss of its own identity because of the rapid increase of these "strangers" through their demographic growth, the legal mechanisms for reuniting families and clandestine enlistment in the so-called underground economy. When there is no prospect of harmonious and peaceful integration, withdrawal into self, tension with one's surroundings, dispersal and the waste of energies become real risks, with negative and sometimes tragic results. People find themselves "more scattered than before, divided in speech, divided among themselves, incapable of consensus and agreement" (Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, n.13).

The mass media can play an important role, both positive and negative. Their activity can foster a proper evaluation and better understanding of the problems of the "new arrivals", dispelling prejudices and emotional reactions, or instead, it can breed rejection and hostility, impeding and jeopardizing proper integration.

2. All this raises urgent challenges to the Christian community, which makes attention to migrants and refugees one of its pastoral priorities. From this standpoint Word Migration Day is an appropriate occasion for reflecting on how to intervene ever more effectively in this sensitive apostolate.

For the Christian, acceptance of and solidarity with the stranger are not only a human duty of hospitality, but a precise demand of fidelity itself to Christ's teaching. For the believer, caring for migrants means striving to guarantee a place within the individual Christian community for his brothers and sisters coming from afar, and working so that every human being's personal rights are recognized. The Church invites all people of goodwill to make their own contribution so that every person is respected and discriminations that debase human dignity are banned. Her action, sustained by prayer, is inspired by the Gospel and guided by her age-old experience.

The Ecclesial Community's activity is also an incentive to the leaders of peoples and international communities, institutions and organizations of various kinds involved in the phenomenon of migration. An expert in humanity, the Church fulfills her task by enlightening consciences with her teaching and witness, and by encouraging appropriate initiatives to ensure that immigrants find the right place within individual societies.

3. In particular, she concretely urges Christian migrants and refugees not to turn in on themselves, isolating themselves from the pastoral life of the Diocese or parish that accepts them. At the same time, however, she puts clergy and faithful on guard against attempting merely to assimilate them, which destroys their particular characteristics. Rather she encourages the gradual integration of these brothers and sisters, making the most of their diversity to build an authentic family of believers which is welcoming and supportive.

To this end it is good for the local community into which migrants and refugees are integrated to provide them with structures that help them actively assume their responsibilities. In this regard, the priest specifically assigned to the care of migrants is asked to be a bridge between different cultures and mentalities. This presupposes an awareness that he is fulfilling a truly missionary ministry "in the same way that Christ by his Incarnation committed himself to the particular social and cultural circumstances of the people among whom he lived" (Ad gentes, n.10).

Morever, the fact that apostolic action for migrants is sometimes carried out in the midst of suspicion and even hostility can never become a reason for abandoning the commitment to solidarity and human advancement. Jesus' demanding assertion: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35) retains its power in all circumstances and challenges the conscience of those who intend to follow in his footsteps. For the believer, accepting others is not only philanthropy or a natural concern for his fellow man. It is far more, because in every human being he knows he is meeting Christ, who expects to be loved and served in our brothers and sisters, especially in the poorest and neediest.

4. Jesus, the only-begotten Son made man, is the living icon of God's solidarity with men. "Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich" (2 Cor 8:9). Only a Christian community really attentive to others welcomes and carries on the legacy bequeathed by Jesus to the Apostles in the Upper Room on the eve of his death on the Cross: "Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other" (Jn 13:34). The Redeemer asks for a love that is self-giving, gratuitous and disinterested.

In this regard, the words of St James, who wrote to the "twelve tribes of the diaspora", probably Christians of Jewish origin dispersed throughout the Graeco-Roman world, sound more prophetic than ever: "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled', without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (Jas 2:14-17).

5. I am pleased to call attention here to the shining example of an apostle who was able to witness in a living and prophetic way to Christ's love for migrants. I am speaking of Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini, whom I had the joy of beatifying today, 9 November.

He was deeply moved by the dramatic exodus of migrants who, in the final decades of the last century, left Europe in large numbers for the countries of the New World, and he clearly saw the need to provide pastoral care for them through an appropriate network of social assistance. In this regard, he showed keen spiritual insight and sound practical sense in founding the Congregation of the Missionaries and Missionary Sisters of St Charles. He also strongly supported the introduction of legislative and institutional measures for the human and legal protection of migrants against every form of exploitation.

Today in certainly different social situations, the spiritual sons and daughters of Bishop Scalabrini, who were later joined by the Lay Scalabrinian Missionaries, heirs to the same charism, continue to witness to Christ's love for migrants and to offer them the Gospel, the universal message of salvation. May Bishop Scalabrini sustain by his example and intercession everyone throughout the world who works in the service of migrants and refugees.

6. To offer a solid Christian witness in this demanding and complex sector, it is important "to gain a renewed appreciation of the Spirit as the One who builds the kingdom of God within the course of history and prepares its full manifestation in Jesus Christ" (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 45).

How can we forget that 1998 is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, whose role was revealed in an extraordinarily effective way at Pentecost? I wrote in my Message for the 16th World Day of Peace: the descent of "the Holy Spirit caused the first disciples of the Lord to rediscover, beyond the diversity of languages, the royal road to peace in brotherhood" (n. 12; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 27 December 1982, p. 10).

In ancient Babel pride had shattered the unity of the human family. The Spirit of Pentecost came to heal this lost unity with his gifts, re-establishing it on the model of Trinitarian communion, in which the three distinct Persons subsist in the undivided unity of the divine nature. All those who listened to the Apostles on whom the Spirit descended were astonished to hear them speaking each in his own language (cf. Acts 2:7-11). Unanimity in listening, then as today, does not jeopardize the diversity of cultures since "every culture is an effort to ponder the mystery of the world and in particular of the human person: it is a way of giving an expression to the transcendent dimension of human life". Over and above "all the differences which distinguish individuals and peoples, there is a fundamental commonality. For different cultures are but different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence" (Address to the 50th General Assembly of the United Nations, 5 October 1995, n. 9; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 9).

The year of the Holy Spirit therefore invites believers to live more deeply the theological virtue of hope, which offers them solid and profound reasons for their commitment to the new evangelization and to their efforts for those who, coming from different countries and cultures, expect our help in fulfilling their human potential.

7. To evangelize is to give an account to all of the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). In this duty the first Christians, although a social minority, were boldly enterprising. Sustained by the parresia instilled in them by the Holy Spirit, they could give candid witness to their own faith.

Today too, "Christians are called to prepare for the Great Jubilee of the beginning of the third millennium by renewing their hope in the definitive coming of the kingdom of God, preparing for it daily in their hearts, in the Christian community to which they belong, in their particular social context" (Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 46).

The phenomenon of human mobility calls to mind the very image of the Church, a pilgrim people on earth, but constantly on her way to the heavenly homeland. Even in the innumerable hardships it involves, this path reminds us of the future world whose prospective image spurs us to transform the present, which must be freed from injustice and oppression in view of the encounter with God, the ultimate goal of all men.

I entrust the Christian community's apostolic commitment to migrants and refugees to "Mary, who conceived the Incarnate Word by the power of the Holy Spirit and then in the whole of her life allowed herself to be guided by his interior activity.... Mary gave full expression to the longing of the poor of Yahweh and is a radiant model for those who entrust themselves with all their hearts to the promises of God" (ibid., n. 48). May she accompany with motherly concern all those who work for migrants and refugees; may she dry the tears and console all who have had to leave their own land and loved ones.

May everyone also be comforted by my Blessing.

From the Vatican, 9 November 1997, the twentieth year of the Pontificate.

Message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 1999

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The Jubilee which we are rapidly approaching is an extraordinary moment of grace and reconciliation. In a very particular way it also involves the world of migrants, because of the close similarities between their condition and that of believers: 'The whole of the Christian life', I wrote in the Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, 'is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father' (n. 49). On this World Migration Day, which falls in the third year of preparation for the Jubilee, I would like to develop several thoughts in the light of this observation, thereby helping to "broaden the horizons of believers, so that they will see things in the perspective of Christ: in the perspective of the 'Father who is in heaven' ... from whom the Lord was sent and to whom he has returned" (ibid.).

2. "The land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me" (Lv 25:23). These words of the Lord, recorded in the Book of Leviticus, contain the fundamental reason for the biblical Jubilee, which, for Abraham's descendants, corresponds to their awareness of being guests and pilgrims in the promised land.

The New Testament extends this conviction to every disciple of Christ who, as a citizen of the heavenly homeland and a fellow citizen of the saints (cf. Eph 2:19), has no lasting dwelling-place on this earth and lives as a wanderer (cf. 1 Pt 2:11), constantly seeking a final destination.

These biblical categories have become significant again in the present historical context, which is strongly marked by substantial migratory flows and a growing ethnic and cultural pluralism. They also underscore that the Church, present in every clime, is not identified with any particular race or culture since, as the Epistle to Diognetus recalls, Christians 'live in their homeland, but as guests; as citizens they participate in all things, but are detached from all things as strangers. Every foreign country is a homeland to them and every homeland a foreign country.... They dwell on earth but are citizens of heaven' (5, 1).

By her nature, the Church is in solidarity with the world of migrants who, with their variety of languages, races, cultures and customs, remind her of her own condition as a people on pilgrimage from every part of the earth to their final homeland. This vision helps Christians to reject all nationalistic thinking and to avoid narrow ideological categories. It reminds them that the Gospel should be incarnated in life in order to become its leaven and soul, also through a constant effort to free it from the cultural incrustations that inhibit its inner dynamism.

3. God reveals himself in the Old Testament as the One who takes the side of the stranger, the side, that is, of the people of Israel enslaved in Egypt. In the New Law he reveals himself in Jesus, born in a stable on the outskirts of town, 'because there was no place for them in the inn' (Lk 2:7), and who had nowhere to lay his head throughout his public ministry (cf. Mt 8:20; Lk 9:58). The Cross, the centre of Christian Revelation, is the culminating moment of this radical condition as a stranger: Christ dies 'outside the gate' (Heb 13:12), rejected by his own people. However, John the Evangelist recalls Jesus' prophetic words: 'And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself' (12:32), and stresses that precisely by his death he will begin to 'gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad' (Jn 11:52). In following the Master's example, the Church too lives as he did in the world with the attitude of a pilgrim, working to create communion, a welcoming home where the dignity conferred by the Creator is recognized in each human being.

4. The ethnic and cultural differences found within the Church could be a source of division or disunity, if she did not have the cohesive strength of charity, a virtue all Christians are invited to practise, particularly during this final year of immediate preparation for the Jubilee. In the Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, I wrote: "It will therefore be necessary, especially during this year, to emphasize the theological virtue of charity, recalling the significant lapidary words of the First Letter of John: 'God is love' (4:8, 16). Charity, in its twofold reality as love of God and neighbour, is the summing up of the moral life of the believer. It has in God its source and its goal" (n. 50).

'You shall love your neighbour as yourself' (Lv 19:18). In the Book of Leviticus this commandment occurs in a series of precepts which forbid injustice. One of them warns: 'When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God' (19:33-44).

The reason, 'for you were strangers in the land of Egypt' which constantly accompanies the command to respect and love the migrant, is not only meant to remind the chosen people of their former condition; it also calls their attention to God's action: on his own initiative he generously delivered them from slavery and freely gave them a land. 'You were a slave and God intervened to set you free; you have seen, then, how God treated migrants; you must treat them in the same way': this is the implicit thought underlying the precept.

5. In the New Testament all distinctions between human beings vanish when Christ breaks down the dividing wall between the chosen people and the pagans. 'For he', St Paul writes, 'is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility' (Eph 2:14). With Christ's paschal mystery there is no near or far, no Jew or pagan, no accepted or rejected.

For the Christian, every human being is a 'neighbour' to be loved. He should not ask himself whom he should love, because to ask 'who is my neighbour?' is already to set limits and conditions. One day Jesus was asked this question and he responded by turning it around: it is not 'and who is my neighbour?', but 'to whom should I become a neighbour?' that is the right question. And the answer is: 'anyone in need, even if he is a stranger to me, becomes a neighbour I must help'. The parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:30-37) invites everyone to reach out beyond the bounds of justice in the perspective of gratuitous and unlimited love.

For the believer, moreover, charity is God's gift, a charism which, like faith and hope, is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5): as God's gift, it is not utopian but concrete; it is the Good News, the Gospel.

6. The presence of migrants challenges the responsibility of believers as individuals and as a community. Moreover, the parish is a privileged expression of community. As the Second Vatican Council recalls, the parish 'offers an outstanding example of community apostolate, for it gathers into a unity all the human diversities that are found there and inserts them into the universality of the Church' (Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 10). The parish is the place were all the members of the community come together and interact. It makes visible and sociologically identifiable God's plan to call all people to the covenant established in Christ, without any exception or exclusion.

The parish, which etymologically means a house where the guest feels at ease, welcomes all and discriminates against none, for no one there is an outsider. It combines the stability and security people feel in their own home with the movement or transience of those who are passing through. Wherever there is a living sense of parish, differences between locals and strangers fade or disappear in the overriding awareness that all belong to God the one Father.

The importance of the parish in welcoming the stranger, in integrating baptized persons from different cultures and in dialoguing with believers of other religions stems from the mission of every parish community and its significance within society. This is not an optional, supplementary role for the parish community, but a duty inherent in its task as an institution.

Catholicity is not only expressed in the fraternal communion of the baptized, but also in the hospitality extended to the stranger, whatever his religious belief, in the rejection of all racial exclusion or discrimination, in the recognition of the personal dignity of every man and woman and, consequently, in the commitment to furthering their inalienable rights.

Priests, called to be ministers of unity in the parish community, have an important role in this regard. They 'are given the grace by God to be the ministers of Jesus Christ among the nations, fulfilling the sacred task of the Gospel, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit' (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 2).

Priests encounter the mystery of Jesus, who gave his life to gather into one his scattered children, in their daily celebration of the divine sacrifice and are called to devote themselves with ever new zeal to serving the unity of all the children of the one Father in heaven, striving to see that each has his place in fraternal communion.

7. "If we recall that Jesus came to 'preach the Good News to the poor' ... how can we fail to lay greater emphasis on the Church's preferential option for the poor and the outcast?" (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 51). This question, which challenges every Christian community, highlights the praiseworthy efforts of so many parishes in neighbourhoods where phenomena exist such as unemployment, the concentration in inadequate spaces of men and women from different regions, and the degradation connected with poverty, the lack of services and insecurity. Parishes are frequently visible reference-points, easily identifiable and accessible, a sign of hope and brotherhood among the glaring divisions, tensions and outbreaks of violence in society. Listening to the same word of God, celebrating the same liturgies and sharing the same religious feasts and traditions help Christians of the area and those who are recent immigrants to feel they are all members of the same people.

In an environment which has been leveled and flattened by anonymity, the parish is a place of sharing, fellowship and mutual recognition. Instead of insecurity, it offers a place of trust where we learn to overcome our own fears; in the absence of reference-points from which to draw light and encouragement for living together, it offers a path of brotherhood and reconciliation based on Christ's Gospel. Situated at the centre of a reality marked by precariousness, the parish can become a true sign of hope. By channeling the neighbourhood's best energies, it can help the residents to move beyond a fatalistic vision of poverty to active, joint efforts aimed at changing living conditions.

Many members of parish communities are also actively involved in structures and associations for improving people's living conditions. As I express my deep appreciation of these significant achievements, I urge parish communities to persevere courageously in the work they are doing for migrants, to help promote a quality of life that is worthier of man and of his spiritual vocation.

8. When speaking of migrants, we must take into account the social conditions in their countries of origin. They are nations where people generally live in conditions of great poverty, which the external debt tends to aggravate. In my Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, I recalled that 'in the spirit of the Book of Leviticus (25:8-12), Christians will have to raise their voice on behalf of all the poor of the world, proposing the Jubilee as an appropriate time to give thought, among other things, to reducing substantially, if not canceling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations' (n. 51). This is one of the aspects which most directly link migration with the Jubilee, not only because migration is more intense in these countries, but especially because the Jubilee, in offering a vision of the earth's goods that condemns the exclusive possession of them (cf. Lv 25:23), leads the believer to open himself to the poor and the stranger.

In the past, the growing gap between rich and poor, which makes social harmony impossible, required that the balance be periodically restored to allow for an orderly renewal of social life. Thus a new form of equality was established by abolishing the mortgage on persons reduced to slavery because of their debts. The ordinances of the biblical Jubilee are one of the many remedies for the social imbalance caused by the perverse spiral ensnaring those who are forced into indebtedness for their own survival.

This phenomenon, which once cocerned relations between citizens of the same nation, is made more critical by the current globalization of trade and the economy, involving relations between the world's States and regions. Lest the imbalance between rich and poor nations become irreversible, with tragic consequences for all humanity, the biblical precept must be translated today into concrete and effective forms leading to an appropriate review of the poor countries' indebtedness to wealthy nations.

I hope that the forthcoming Jubilee, as many people wish, will be a fitting occasion to find appropriate solutions and to offer the poor countries new conditions of dignity and orderly development.

9. 'The Jubilee can also offer an opportunity for reflecting on other challenges ..., such as the difficulties of dialogue between different cultures' (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 51).

The Christian is called to evangelize by reaching out to people wherever they may be, to meet them with warmth and love, to shoulder their problems, to know and appreciate their culture, to help them overcome prejudices. This concrete form of outreach to so many of our needy brothers and sisters will prepare them to encounter the light of the Gospel and, by forging bonds of sincere esteem and friendship, will lead them to ask: 'we wish to see Jesus' (Jn 12:21). Dialogue is essential for a peaceful and productive society.

In view of the ever more pressing challenges of indifferentism and secularization, the Jubilee requires that this dialogue be intensified. In their everyday relationships, believers are called to show the fac>Suc a Church which is open to everyone, attentive to social realities and to whatever enables the human person to affirm his dignity. In particular, Christians, conscious of the heavenly Father's love, will heighten their concern for migrants, in order to develop a sincere and respectful dialogue aimed at building the 'civilization of love'.

Against this vast horizon of commitments, may believers always keep their gaze fixed on Blessed Mary, 'who accompanies the Church with her motherly love and protects her on her journey homeward until the glorious day of the Lord' (Roman Missal, Italian edition, Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary III)!

With these hopes, I affectionately impart my Blessing to all.

From the Vatican, 2 February 1999.

Message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 2000

1. On the threshold of the new millennium, humanity is marked by phenomena of intense mobility, while the awareness of being members of one family continues to grow in people's minds. Voluntary or forced migration increases opportunities for exchange among people of different cultures, religions, races and nationalities. Modern means of transport are ever more rapidly connecting one part of the globe to another, and every day borders are crossed by thousands of migrants, refugees, nomads and tourists.

The immediate reasons for the complex reality of human migration differ widely; its ultimate source, however, is the longing for a transcendent horizon of justice, freedom and peace. In short, it testifies to an anxiety which, however indirectly, refers to God, in whom alone man can find the full satisfaction of all his expectations.

Many countries make a considerable effort to welcome immigrants, many of whom, after overcoming the difficulties of adjustment, are well integrated into the host community. However, the misunderstandings that foreigners sometimes experience show the urgent need for a transformation of structures and a change of mentality, which is what the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 asks of Christians and every person of good will.

2. With the Great Jubilee the Church celebrates the Birth of Christ. In order deeply to live this time of grace, many of the faithful will go on pilgrimage to the shrines of the Holy Land, Rome and the whole world, where they will learn to open their hearts to everyone, especially those who are different:  guests, foreigners, immigrants, refugees, those who profess another religion and non-believers.

Pilgrimages have always been a significant part of the life of the faithful, even though assuming different cultural forms in various ages, since "a pilgrimage evokes the believer's personal journey in the footsteps of the Redeemer:  it is an exercise of practical asceticism, of repentance for human weaknesses, of constant vigilance over one's own frailty, of interior preparation for a change of heart" (Incarnationis mysterium, n. 7).

For many pilgrims this experience of an interior journey is accompanied by the benefits of many encounters with other believers who differ in background, culture and history. A pilgrimage therefore becomes a privileged occasion for meeting others. Whoever has first made the effort, like Abraham, to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house (cf. Gn 12: 1), is thereby more willing to open himself to those who are different.

A similar process occurs with migration which, by making people "come out of themselves", can become an outreach to others and to other social contexts into which they can be integrated when the necessary conditions are created for peanderl coexistence.

3. The Good News is the message of the Father's infinite love revealed in Jesus Christ, who came into the world "to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11: 52) and unite them in the one human family in which God has made his dwelling (cf. Rv 21: 3). This is why Pope Paul VI, in speaking of the Church, recalled that "there is no one who is a stranger to her heart, no one in whom her ministry has no interest. She has no enemies, except those who wish to be such. Her name of Catholic is not an idle title. Not in vain has she received the commission to foster in the world unity, love and peace" (Encyclical Ecclesiam suam, n. 94).

Echoing these words, the Second Vatican Council stated:  "That Messianic people, although it does not actually include all men, and at times may appear as a small flock, is, however, a most sure seed of unity, hope and salvation" (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, n. 9). The Church is conscious of her mission. She knows that Christ wanted her to be a sign of unity in the world. It is from this perspective that she also considers the phenomenon of migration, which occurs today the context of globalization with all its positive and negative aspects (cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America, nn. 20-22).

On the one hand, globalization accelerates flows of capital and exchanges of goods and services between people and inevitably influences human movement. Every important event that occurs in a specific part of the world tends to have repercussions on the entire planet, while the sense that all nations share a common destiny is increasing. The new generations have a growing conviction that the planet is now a "global village", and they make friendships that transcend the differences of language or culture. Living side by side is becoming an everyday reality for many people.

At the same time, however, globalization produces new ruptures. Within the framework of a liberalism without adequate controls, the gap between the "emerging" and the "losing" countries is widening. The former have capital and technologies that allow them to enjoy the world's resources at will, a possibility that they do not always use with a spirit of solidarity and sharing. The latter, instead, do not have easy access to the resources needed for adequate human development, and sometimes even lack the means of subsistence; crushed by debt and torn by internal divisions, they often end up wasting their meagre wealth on war (cf. Encyclical Centesimus annus, n. 33). As I recalled in my Message for the 1998 World Day of Peace, the challenge of our time is to assure a globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization (cf. n. 3).

4. In many regions of the world today people live in tragic situations of instability and uncertainty. It does not come as a surprise that in such contexts the poor and the destitute make plans to escape, to seek a new land that can offer them bread, dignity and peace. This is the migration of the desperate:  men and women, often young, who have no alternative than to leave their own country to venture into the unknown. Every day thousands of people take even critical risks in their attempts to escape from a life with no future. Unfortunately, the reality they find in host nations is frequently a source of further disappointment.

At the same time, States with a relative abundance tend to tighten their borders under pressure from a public opinion disturbed by the inconveniences that accompany the phenomenon of immigration. Society finds itself having to deal with the "clandestine", men and women in illegal situations, without any rights in a country that refuses to welcome them, victims of organized crime or of unscrupulous entrepreneurs.

On the threshold of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, as the Church acquires a renewed awareness of her mission at the service of the human family, this situation also raises some serious questions. The globalization process can be an opportunity, if cultural differences are accepted as an opportunity for meeting and dialogue, and if the unequal distribution of the world's resources leads to a new awareness of the necessary solidarity which must unite the human family. If, on the contrary, inequalities increase, poorer populations are forced into the exile of desperation, while the wealthy countries find they are prisoners of an insatiable craving to concentrate the available resources in their own hands.

5. Aware of the dramas but also of the opportunities inherent in the migration phenomenon and "contemplating the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Church prepares to cross the threshold of the third millennium" (Incarnationis mysterium, n. 1). In the Incarnation the Church recognizes God's initiative in making "known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1: 9-10). Christian commitment draws strength from Christ's love, which is Good News for all human beings.

In the light of this Revelation, the Church, Mother and Teacher, works so that every person's dignity is respected, the immigrant is welcomed as a brother or sister, and all humanity forms a united family which knows how to appreciate with discernment the different cultures which comprise it. In Jesus, God came seeking human hospitality. This is why he makes the willingness to welcome others in love a characteristic virtue of believers. He chose to be born into a family that found no lodging in Bethlehem (cf. Lk 2: 7) and experienced exile in Egypt (cf. Mt 2: 14). Jesus, who "had nowhere to lay his head" (Mt 8: 20), asked those he met for hospitality. To Zacchaeus he said:  "I must stay at your house today" (Lk 19: 5). He even compared himself to a foreigner in need of shelter:  "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25: 35). In sending his disciples out on mission, Jesus makes the hospitality they will enjoy an act that concerns him personally:  "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me" (Mt 10: 40).

In this Jubilee year and in the context of a human mobility that has expanded everywhere, his invitation to hospitality becomes timely and urgent. How can the baptized claim to welcome Christ if they close the door to the foreigner who comes knocking? "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 Jn 3: 17).

The Son of God became man to reach out to all, giving preference to the least ones, the outcast, the stranger. When he began his mission in Nazareth, he presented himself as the Messiah who proclaims the Good News to the poor, brings release to captives and restores sight to the blind. He came to proclaim a "year of the Lord's favour" (cf. Lk 4: 18), which is liberation and the beginning of a new era of brotherhood and solidarity.

"The Jubilee, "a year of the Lord's favour', characterizes all the activity of Jesus; it is not merely the recurrence of an anniversary in time" (Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 11). Christ's work, ever present in his Church, seeks to bring all who feel strangers into a new fraternal communion; and his disciples are called to make themselves the servants of this mercy, so that no one will be lost (cf. Jn 6: 39).

6. In ‚à‚Èbrating the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the Church does not want to forget the tragedies which have marked the century now drawing to a close:  the bloody wars which have devastated the world, the deportations, extermination camps, "ethnic cleansing" and the hatred which has spread and continues to darken human history.

The Church hears the suffering cry of all who are uprooted from their own land, of families forcefully separated, of those who, in the rapid changes of our day, are unable to find a stable home anywhere. She senses the anguish of those without rights, without any security, at the mercy of every kind of exploitation, and she supports them in their unhappiness.

In all the societies of the world the figure of the exile, the refugee, the deportee, the clandestine, the migrant and the "street people" gives the Jubilee celebration a very concrete meaning, which for believers becomes a call to change their mentality and their life, in accordance with Christ's appeal:  "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15).

In its highest and most demanding motivation, this call to conversion certainly includes the effective recognition of the rights of migrants:  "It is urgent in their regard that one know how to overcome a strictly nationalistic attitude to create a State which recognizes their right to emigration and encourages their integration.... It is the duty of all - and especially Christians - to work energetically to establish the universal brotherhood which is the indispensable basis of true justice and a condition for lasting peace" (Paul VI, Encyclical Octogesima adveniens, n. 17).

Working for the unity of the human family means being committed to the rejection of all discrimination based on race, culture or religion as contrary to God's plan. It means bearing witness to a fraternal life based on the Gospel, which respects cultural differences and is open to sincere and trustful dialogue. It includes the advancement of everyone's right to be able to live peacefully in his own country, as well as attentive concern that in every State immigration laws be based on the recognition of fundamental human rights.

May the Virgin Mary, who set out with haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth and, in receiving hospitality, rejoiced in God her Saviour (cf. Lk 1: 39-47), sustain everyone who in this Jubilee year sets out with their hearts open to others, and help them to meet them as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father (cf. Mt 23: 9).

I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to all.

From the Vatican, 21 November 1999.