German immigration policies have seen left and right wing groups clashing in sometimes violent protests in several major cities. Thousands of people rallied on Sunday to demand the country help with missions to rescue migrants stranded at sea. The demonstrations, organised by a range of Catholic and Protestant civic groups, were part of a Europe-wide Read more
Aucklander Laura McLellan says her experience working as a teacher Ranong, South Thailand, has had an immense impact on the way she sees her world and the people in it. Laura is working with a Marist community teaching English and social studies within the Burmese migrant community. She was a volunteer in the Marist Youth Read more
Members of St Vincent de Paul in Paris are helping migrants by providing practical and spiritual help. Coordinating Catholic aid is Jerome Perrin, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. Read more
One of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies is alleged to have rejected a deal she made last week in Brussels to slash migration. The deal Merkel made with other European Union leaders shares out refugees on a voluntary basis and creates “controlled centres” inside the bloc to process asylum requests. Read more
Papal charity Caritas hosted a lunch in Rome with migrants and refugees on Tuesday. Caritas Rome hosts the city’s main soup kitchen and caters for tens of thousands of poor people. In hosting Tuesday’s lunch, Caritas hoped to foster a “culture of encounter” as this week is set aside as Caritas’s Global Action Week. It Read more
Bill Morris, is a freelance film-maker, musician, writer, and photographer. Lottie Hedley is a freelance photographer. They are writing a story about Southland’s migrant communities for New Zealand Geographic. On Good Friday they joined a group taking part in the Stations of the Cross in Lumsden. This is the seventh time Filipino Catholics from throughout Southland Read more
Catholic leaders in the United States are disgusted President Donald Trump wants National Guard troops to go to the US-Mexico border. They say it is morally irresponsible, dangerously ineffective and unwise. Rather than keeping migrants out of the United States, they would like the administration to be more welcoming. In a statement from the Hope Read more
Whenever Pope Francis visits prisons, during his whirlwind trips to the world’s peripheries or at a nearby jailhouse in Rome, he always tells inmates that he, too, could have ended up behind bars: “Why you and not me?” he asks. That humble empathy and the ease with which he walks in others’ shoes have won Read more
On behalf of the world’s often unwanted refugees and migrants, Pope Francis in his Jan. 1 World Day of Peace message titled “Migrants and Refugees: Men and Women in Search of Peace” pleads: “In a spirit of compassion, let us embrace all those fleeing from war and hunger, or forced by discrimination, persecution, poverty and Read more
In a message the Vatican translated into eight languages, Pope Francis has sharp words for politicians he says are stoking racism. Migration has become a top political issue in many countries including the United States, Italy, Australia and Germany. Francis’s speech was released in the lead-up to the 2018 World Day of Peace which will Read more