Menton – Ventimiglia… Nice, so close to us. Headlines and photos that worry: “High tension”, “By force. Why and to support what thesis?
Men, women, young minors, on train platforms, in makeshift shelters, crying out through their mere presence: a misery that inflicts violence upon us, and we feel attacked, a state of the world that continually creates inequalities and frustrations of all kinds and at the same time, a desire for life, happiness: for humanity
Perhaps these “castaways of the world” are mistaken, hoping here, in Europe, for an “Eldorado”. They come from Eritrea or Sudan…
Maybe we are mistaken if our only response, even in difficult times for our European countries and our country, is a lack of humanity and generosity.
The dignity of people is not negotiable. The dignity of people is always to be safeguarded. Man, whoever he may be, is not to be “negotiated”. A spirit of understanding, welcome, and solidarity must prevail.
These “displaced” individuals do not come to destabilize our social, economic, political “order”, which is quite unstable anyway.
Their presence surely demands that we be “disturbed”. It requires, in the immediate, material, human, and spiritual support to which we cannot turn a blind eye.
We cannot be content with “parking” humans in conditions of precarity that quickly become unbearable.
From there arises violence – it is not yet the case – which begets violence.
The Caritas (Catholic Relief) are indeed present on each side of the border and notably at the train stations in Nice and Ventimiglia. They collaborate in coordination with other associations, including MIR, which we know well, Inter Secours Nice, and other refugee advocacy associations even more focused on legal, political aspects.
It is in our name that they do this.
The Catholic Relief will call for a collection of foodstuffs, clothing, toiletries… I support this initiative. It is a way to respond while waiting for the decisions from the European meetings of June 25 and 26.
“The great global issue is to lift 2 billion deprived people out of misery. We are a few countries with sufficient means to lack for nothing. But, in fact, we are rich, fulfilled. It is essential that all countries that can do so agree to cooperate on this subject.” These words were spoken in Washington during a press conference by General de Gaulle on April 23, 1960, more than 55 years ago! The question is current… even more serious…
What to hope for from June 25 and 26?
Christians, here, under our azure sky “let us not be afraid” (JP II)
Let this passage from the Bible (Genesis 4, 9-10) relayed by Pope Francis, resonate in our hearts and minds with all its strength: “the voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me…”
“Your brother’s life cries out to me,” God always tells us. How does it cry out to us?
“Today, no one in the world feels responsible for this: we have lost the sense of fraternal responsibility. We have fallen into the globalization of indifference” (Francis, Lampedusa 08 07 2013).
Let us not be misled by fear, by the difficult economic situation, by the arrival of summer and tourists, the order to be preserved, or the electoral campaigns.
Let us truly realize, through this event, what is being revealed to us. It is a situation that partly overwhelms us, but let us not fail in our duty to humanity.
We bear the name Christians. Let us be the disciples of Him who, in response to our question: “When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, naked and clothe you?” replies: “Whenever you did it for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me” (Mt 25, 40).
+André MARCEAU
Bishop of Nice
