He noted that the Church in Poland had been “critical of the approach by the authorities and has been trying to encourage a more humanitarian and a more flexible approach.”
“I think that the bishops of Poland, for example, have somewhat dissented from the pushback by the authorities. And I think that there there is the voice of the Church, encouraging all to regard this situation as not a question of numbers, but of people, just like the rest of us, who find themselves in a very serious position. And those obviously who are responsible for this issue obviously bear a great burden of responsibility.”
Lavrov said that the crisis should be resolved with “full respect for the principles of international humanitarian law.”
“It is important not to forget the roots of these problems. They are caused by the long-term policy of the Western countries, including NATO and EU members, as regards the Middle East and North Africa,” he commented.
“The West was trying to impose its version of a better life on these states, and its interpretation of democracy that it was pushing all over the world. When the West encountered the least bit of resistance, it launched military ventures. Iraq was bombed under a false pretext, the Libyan state was destroyed and there were attacks on Syria. These and other ventures of our Western colleagues triggered unprecedented refugee flows.”
The Catholic Church in Poland will hold a collection this month for migrants facing deteriorating conditions on the country’s border with Belarus.
The website of the Church in Belarus is encouraging Catholics to recite the following prayer:
Merciful God, let refugees and migrants,
deprived of home, family, and everything they know,
feel Your presence filled with love.
Warm the hearts of children and the elderly,
as well as of the weakest people.
Make them feel that You are near,
as You did with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
when they were refugees in Egypt.
Help them find a new home and new hope.
Open our hearts so that we accept them
as sisters and brothers,
seeing in their faces Thy Son, Jesus.
Amen.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) Staff are a team of journalists dedicated to reporting news concerning the Catholic Church around the world. Our bureaus are located in Denver, Washington, and Rome. We have sister language agencies in Kenya, Germany, Peru, Brazil, and Italy. CNA is a service of EWTN News. You can contact us at news@catholicna.com with questions.