Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster has welcomed a U-turn by the Government over the resettlement of child refugees.
He said he was “very happy” with an announcement by David Cameron that Britain will accept an unspecified number of unaccompanied children who arrived in the European Union from Syria.
Under pressure from Parliament, Mr Cameron said Britain would not only take in 3,000 children from refugee camps in the Middle East, but that children registered in Greece, Italy or France before March 20, the date when an EU deal with Turkey to return migrants took effect, would also be eligible for resettlement in Britain. The Government will not take in migrant children who arrive after that date because it does not want to encourage human trafficking, he said.
Cardinal Nichols, president of the bishops’ conference, suggested the Government had struck the right balance.
He said: “I am very happy that the Government is extending an offer of sanctuary to a greater number of children fleeing conflict, while continuing to combat the evils of human trafficking. The UK’s response to the refugee crisis is improving the lives of thousands. I encourage the Catholic community to keep on playing its part through working with local authorities, being generous with time and resources, and extending the hand of welcome to refugees arriving here.”
Days earlier, Cardinal Nichols had used a homily at an annual diocesan Mass for migrants to urge Catholics to protest against immigration policies that could put the lives of children at risk.
“While it is right to keep silent when children are asleep, it is never right to stay silent when they are perishing at sea or at risk in hostile camps,” Cardinal Nichols said at the Mass.
“From those who deal in creating fear of migrant people and who seek to profit from that fear, whether financially or politically, we ask for a more responsible leadership, a leadership that looks at all that we gain as well as the problems we confront,” the cardinal said. The Archbishop of Westminster told the congregation that London “would not function” without the “great contribution” of its migrant communities.
But he suggested that new policies aimed at restricting immigration meant that Britain could not show greater hospitality to refugees even if its citizens wanted to.
In an allusion to the EU deal with Turkey to expel migrants, he criticised “international plans that often seem to treat people purely as problems or even as packages to be sent from place to place”.
He said: “We hope the way in which governments respond to the immense challenge which faces us will take more seriously the personal generosity of so many, in this country too, who are willing to welcome refugees and desperate migrants and yet are hindered from doing so by policies shaped more by caution and fear.
“We hear reports of sadness, dismay, frustration, anger, rejection and humiliation, from Iraq and Jordan, to Libya and Calais,” he said. “Yes, this is ‘a vale of tears’ as both the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas become, in the Holy Father’s words, graveyards for children, the elderly and their families.”
St Mary’s University, Twickenham, Britain’s largest Catholic university, has launched a major new research centre which it hopes will play a significant role in public debate.
Speaking at the launch, former education secretary Ruth Kelly said she was convinced the Benedict XVI Centre “will play a key role in public life”. Ms Kelly said the centre would have a strong Catholic identity alongside a research profile specialising in politics, economics and the social sciences.
The centre was first proposed after Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in 2010, when he went to St Mary’s. During his visit, the Pope Emeritus spoke about the interdependence of faith and reason, and the necessity of a dialogue between religion and politics.
Stephen Bullivant, the centre’s director, who is a contributing editor of the Catholic Herald, said the centre would “bring the riches of the Catholic tradition of Catholic social thought, the riches of Catholic teaching on faith and reason, into the national conversation”.
The centre’s work will include a Catholic Research Forum, providing “empirically rigorous, pastorally useful research, at the service of the Church”. It has already been commissioned by the Bishops of England and Wales to research the non-religious population of Britain.
Another immediate project is the study of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and its aftermath – a project which will culminate in an edited volume for the 50th anniversary of the encyclical’s publication in 2018.
St Mary’s University was founded in 1850 as one of the first acts of the newly restored Catholic hierarchy. It is the only Catholic university in London. Francis Campbell, the vice-chancellor, served as Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See.
The deadline for nominations for the Celebrating Young People Awards is May 20.
The awards, run by Million Minutes, include the Jimmy Mizen Award promoting solidarity and peace, the Cardinal Hume Award recognising young people who have helped others turn their lives around, and the Cymfed Award for an inspiring youth leader. The Pope Francis Award will be selected from all the nominations. See millionminutes.org for further details.
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