Changes prompt Vatican to update guidelines on care of migrants

Published: 2004-05-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The vast scale and changing face of today's people on the move prompted the Vatican to update its guidelines on the pastoral care of migrants. The Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers released the document, "Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi" ("The Love of Christ Toward Migrants"), May 14. The 80-page instruction comes 35 years after Pope Paul VI's "Pastoralis Migratorum Cura" put forth the church's basic guidelines concerning the care of immigrants, refugees and people on the move. "The instruction aims to be an ecclesial response to the new pastoral needs of migrants, to lead us to turn migration into an occasion for dialogue and mission, in a sign of the new evangelization," said Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the council's secretary. At a Vatican press conference May 14, Archbishop Marchetto said migrants today number more than 200 million people, representing "the largest movement of peoples of all times."

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