Vatican News reported on the biennial meeting of senior Roman Catholic bishops from across the Americas, in Tampa, Florida, to strengthen ecclesial communion and develop joint responses to the challenges facing their two continents.
“No migrant is a foreigner to the Church”, is how they concluded their discussion of migration. “In every person who leaves their homeland in search of safety, opportunities, or dignity”, reads their joint declaration, “we recognise a brother, a sister; we recognise the very face of Christ on the move.”
The meeting was attended by the presidencies of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), and the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), continuing a tradition of episcopal dialogue initiated in 1959.
In their joint statements, they expressed their desire to respond more effectively to the sufferings of God’s people, particularly in the face of the stigmatisation of migrants, the worsening of poverty, political tensions, and social insecurity. “Human mobility cannot be reduced to a mere political or economic issue”, they concluded. “It is a profoundly human reality that challenges our Christian conscience and the ethical responsibility of nations.”
Read the article (in Spanish) in Vatican News here.