Benedict XVI calls for change in attitude towards those who leave their own country driven by unacceptable situations and fail to find the reception they hoped elsewhere. In the globalized world, cultural differences must be welcomed as an opportunity for encounter and dialogue.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Looking at the growing phenomenon of migration as a "favorable condition for mutual understanding between peoples and for building peace and development that affects every nation", a change in attitude towards those who leave their own country driven by unacceptable situations and fail to find the reception they hoped elsewhere. This based on the principle that "authentic development always has a character of solidarity" proposed by Benedict XVI today as he discussed the conditions of those who leave their homeland to seek a better life.

The Pope was meeting participants at the VI Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, which begins today in the Vatican on the theme "A Pastoral Response to migration in the era of globalization. Five years in the Instruction Erga migrantes caritas Christi ".

The need for a change in attitude stems from the fact that "if migration is as old as human history, it had never before taken on such great or complex proportions as today. It affects almost every country in the world and fits into the wider process of globalization". And while "the economic gap between poor countries and industrialized ones is widening, the global economic crisis, with the enormous growth of unemployment, is reducing job opportunities and increasing the number of those who can not even find a precarious job. Many are then forced to  abandon their land and their communities of origin and are prepared to work in conditions by no means consistent with human dignity with a difficult integration into host societies because of differences of language, culture and social norms”.

Like the ancient biblical people fleeing from slavery in Egypt, "Today, many immigrants leave their country to escape the unacceptable conditions of human life without the reception they hoped to find elsewhere."

"Faced with such complex situations, how can we not stop to think about the consequences of a society based primarily on simple material development? In the Encyclical Caritas in veritate I noted that true development is integral development, one that affects every man and all man. " "In fact, in a society in the process of globalization, the common good and commitment to it – as I mentioned in Caritas in Veritate – must involve the whole human family, namely the community of peoples and nations "(cf. No. 7). Indeed, the very process of globalization, as emphasized by the Servant of God John Paul II, may provide a good opportunity to promote integral development, but only" if cultural differences are accepted as an occasion for encounter and dialogue, and if the unequal distribution of world resources leads to a new awareness of the need for solidarity that must unite the human family" (Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees 1999, in: Lessons XXII 2, [1999], 988). It follows that appropriate responses to major social changes taking place, are necessary since clearly there can not be an effective development if we do not encourage the meeting of peoples, dialogue between cultures and respect for legitimate differences.  

"This is, however, must result in daily gestures of sharing, of partnership and concern for others, especially toward the needy. To be friendly to each other - St. Paul teaches - the Christians know that they must be willing to listen to the Word of God, that calls them to imitate Christ and be united to Him. Only in this way they can they show real care for their fellow man, and resist the temptation to contempt for and rejection of those who are different. "

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