”Open Hands”: Chaplaincy for Immigrants

The history of humanity is a history of immigration. During the last few years, in this globalized world, migration has become a phenomenon of great magnitude that challenges the international community, the local society and, in a special way, those who call themselves Christian (Episcopal Conference of Ecuador, 31 October 2003, Our immigrant brothers and sisters in Spain).

Many people have abandoned their homeland, their family and their cultural environment. They have become the victims of a political and/or economic crisis that is rooted in selfishness and corruption. Pope John Paul II, in his message for World Migration Day in 2000 stated: 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.

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