Rimini, Italy, Aug 22, 2019 / 12:30 pm
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States said Wednesday that politics surrounding migration in Europe fuel ideological conflicts that do not fully take into account the complexity of the problem.
"I believe it is clear to everyone that such a delicate issue cannot be dealt with effectively without a clear political vision at all levels. But how can we have such a vision, without a cultural perspective that allows us to face the wide spectrum of related problems?" Archbishop Paul Gallagher said Aug. 21 in a speech in Rimini, Italy.
Gallagher pointed to the Catholic social principles of solidarity and inalienable human dignity. He also spoke of the necessity to balance the rhetoric of "rights" in Europe with that of their corresponding duties.
"The concept of law no longer seems to be associated with the equally essential and complementary concept of duty, so that we end up affirming the rights of the individual without taking into account that every human being is linked to a social context, in which his rights and duties are connected to those of others and to the common good of society itself," Gallagher said, quoting Pope Francis' speech to the European Parliament in 2014.