migrants

On the final day of a historic meeting of bishops and international Catholic organizations, participants discussed the challenges the Church faces even while trying to get Catholics to understand Church teaching on migrants.

Along with Vatican representatives, they were attending an emergency session June 1 and 2 on the U.S. church’s response to immigration as well as seeking greater collaboration with bishops from countries where some migrants are coming from

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious asked members for urgent help in ministering to migrants when families, minors and others were increasingly coming across cities and towns close to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Migrants arriving in Ciudad Juárez in recent years have remained stuck in the Mexican border city, unable to claim asylum in the United States and vulnerable to crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and extortion.

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Catholic bishops who head the U.S. and Mexico dioceses along the border that separates them, along with the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee, issued a joint statement April 1 urging governments, political leaders and civil society to “work together to welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants.”

The surge of migrants through Mexico has strained Catholic-run shelters, which are operating at limited capacity due to COVID-19 precautions.