19/04/2016
Comments on the EC Proposal for a European Border and Coast Guards (EN)
Category Archives: Migration & Asylum
Migration and asylum are human rights issues. Frequently, individuals and families leave their places of origin or residence seeking an improvement in their living conditions or simply fleeing violence or war.
The current scale of the phenomenon at the EU borders is worrying, as are the tragedies and deaths that result from the desperation of migrants, many of them victims of criminal activities of smugglers and traffickers. Integration of migrants and asylum seekers is also a challenge.
The COMECE Secretariat works for the rights of migrants, refugees and hosting societies to be harmonised and respected in the EU for the sake of the common good in the Christian spirit of welcoming the stranger.
COMECE is assisted in this mission by a Working Group on Migration and Asylum.
Press Release
Pope Francis’ visit to Lesbos: a bench-mark moment for Europe’s response to the refugee crisis
In view of Pope Francis’ visit to Lesbos on 16 April next, the General Secretary of COMECE, Fr Patrick H.Daly, made the following statement: “At the very outset of his pontificate, in visiting the rocky Italian outpost of Lampedusa, Pope Francis displayed his concern for those many migrants who put their lives at risk in order to seek refuge in Europe. The fate of migrants … Continue reading
News
Refugee Crisis: Bishops discuss plan of joint action for Europe
“Facing a crisis with many Faces”: this was the title given to a meeting organised by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) which brought together bishops from the Middle East, southern and western Europe, with Catholic experts from the field, to discuss migration. It was the Bishop of Eisenstadt, Mgr. Agidius Zsifkovics, in his capacity as COMECE co-ordinator on Refugees, … Continue reading
Press Release
Refugees, Migrants, Integration: Proposals of the European Bishops to the EU
COMECE welcomes in principle the conclusions of the European Council on 17 December 2015 and the concrete steps they entail for the implementation of measures concerning the reception, support and relocation of refugees in the European Union. Nevertheless it is to be regretted that the Member States were not encouraged to take further steps for the integration of the asylum seekers. Ahead of the European … Continue reading
02/12/2015
COMECE reflection on integration of migration and refugees «I was a stranger and you made me welcome» (EN)
Press Release
Churches on the Frontline of Integration: COMECE-CEC-CCME joint press release
Today the European Commission convened a Dialogue Seminar focused on looking beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis provoked by the recent influx of migrants and refugees on European soil. COMECE, CEC, and CCME gathered experts and Church leaders from across Europe to discuss models of integration, best practices, and the fundamental values that guide integration within the European Union. Welcoming migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees became … Continue reading
News
Integration of Migrants: A Catholic Perspective Evening debate Tuesday
People migrate for a variety of reasons. Leaving the land of one’s birth is never easy. Today an increasing number of people are driven out of their homeland by poverty or by despair concerning the economic or social prospects of themselves or their families. The European Union has witnessed lately an unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants, fleeing military conflicts or poverty in their native … Continue reading
News
Unified political response needed to current migrant crisis
Joint Statement of Bishop Christopher Hill, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, President of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community (ComECE) : The European family of nations finds itself confronting a humanitarian crisis on a scale without precedent in its post-war history. Civil war in Syria, widespread political instability in other areas of the Middle East … Continue reading
News
Mass for Europe. Archbishop Hollerich: “It is our duty as Christians to welcome the refugees”
Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, member Bishop of COMECE and Archbishop of Luxembourg, the Member State currently holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, was invited to deliver the homily during the Mass for Europe, celebrated in Brussels on 23 September. At the very moment when an extraordinary European Council was being held in Brussels on the refugee crisis, Archbishop Hollerich urged Christians to show … Continue reading
Press Release
The Refugee crisis requires a common European solution
Statement of the Standing Committee of COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, on the current refugee crisis and the debate on a common European migration and asylum policy. The flux of refugees to Europe places the countries on our continent before enormous challenges. Yet these challenges can be overcome, if we Europeans consider them as a shared responsibility and cooperate … Continue reading