Pope Leo and migration rights, a matter of balance

As attitudes to immigration harden in Ireland, it is instructive to study what Pope Leo said about migration during his recent visit to Spain, particularly in Gran Canaria, and during his visit to Lampedusa in Italy.

Catholic social teaching on migration is nuanced. Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of all the recent popes. Even the fact that the Favaloro Pier where he spoke in Lampedusa was recently renamed for Pope Francis emphasises the continuity.

Several themes emerged from his homilies and talks. While he did not use the exact term, ‘the right not to emigrate’, he declared that no one should be forced to emigrate.

We often seem to forget that most people do not want to leave their families and countries to travel to strange lands. The majority of people who are economic migrants feel that their lives in their home countries are unsustainable.

Corruption

Pope Leo addressed migrants at the Port of Arguineguín, including a Nigerian woman known as Blessing who had been trafficked into prostitution. She was not physically present due to security issues, but her testimony was read.

Pope Leo said to her: “You told us that you left your country not because you wanted to, but because there was no other choice. Through your words, we hear the drama of so many people who are forced to leave because poverty, war, threats or exploitation closed off all their paths.”

At Lampedusa, he used the parable of the Good Samaritan as an analogy for what is currently happening in migration.

“Those who have lost their lives in this sea are victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made. Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries of origin; a global economic system that generates poverty and exclusion; … the criminal calculations of those who profit from the suffering of others; the slow and difficult transition from mere emergency management to the development of comprehensive and shared policies — all are present-day echoes of the haste to ‘pass by’ in the Gospel narrative.”

Often, those who leave countries of origin are either the most educated or those with the most initiative”

He emphasised rooting out corruption in countries of origin as one avenue to slow down migration flows. He also named the current global economic model that needs constant flows of labour, regardless of the impact on the countries of origin and the new host countries.

Globalists approved of migration because globalisation demands a constant supply of readily available labour. But the so-called ‘brain drain’ is real. Often, those who leave countries of origin are either the most educated or those with the most initiative. Either way, the original country suffers a loss, whether it be of a professional class with qualifications or of its most motivated citizens.

Trafficking

Pope Leo also spoke in harsh terms about traffickers, comparing them to the robbers and bandits who beat up the traveller in the parable and leave him for dead. Speaking of the sea, he said: “Even today, monsters lurk in these seas: mafias that profit from despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and those whose indifference allows the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or forgetfulness.”

The Pope urged host countries to show mercy and to integrate those who come to their shores”

Ideally, people should never be forced to leave their countries, but it is worse if the only means they have to do so is through cynical, corrupt traffickers who care nothing for human life.

The Pope urged host countries to show mercy and to integrate those who come to their shores. Nowhere does Catholic social teaching endorse open borders, but it also insists that the Mediterranean cannot be allowed to become a giant graveyard.

Europe

Europe also has a huge part to play. “Europe is capable of addressing the crisis in this region in a comprehensive manner, integrating immediate relief efforts into a long-term strategic plan capable of receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants, while at the same time assisting developing countries so that no one is forced to emigrate. All of this must be done with vigilance, ensuring respect for the dignity of every person.”

I also believe that in the future, far from barely tolerating the migrants carrying out essential tasks in our society, Europe may be competing for migrants to come to it, given the disastrously low birth rate in so many countries.

At every turn, Pope Leo maintains a balance. He sees the human cost of forced migration due to poverty and war, and the economic cost to countries of origin. However, he sees that it is not beyond the capability of Europe to manage these flows well, firstly, by development aid to countries in the global south and secondly, by welcoming those who wish to integrate into European society.

Against a backdrop of rising anti-migrant sentiment, in which the worst actions of migrants, such as murder and rape, are seen as representative of all migrants, the Pope’s words bear pondering.