Vatican City, Mar 9, 2012 / 00:00 am
The Vatican’s top diplomat to the United Nations refugee agency told a conference in Rome that despite its challenges, migration is ultimately beneficial to everyone involved.
“In the long run migration has proven to be a benefit for both the countries of arrival and the countries of origin and, above all, for most of the migrants,” Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Holy See's Permanent Representative to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told CNA.
Archbishop Tomasi was speaking at a March 8 conference in Rome entitled “Building Bridges of Opportunity: Migration and Diversity” organized by the US Embassy to the Holy See and hosted by the Pontifical North American College.
He explained how any migration process initially brings challenges, which include “tensions, difficulties because of different languages, different habits and cultures which tend to clash.”