24.11.2017
DCU Chaplain Attends Pope Francis’ Audience on Refugees
Following DCU’s accreditation as Ireland’s first ‘University of Sanctuary’, Church of Ireland Chaplain Philip McKinley recently attended an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, to explore the global responses of Universities to refugees and migrants.
The audience took place at the conclusion of a four–day conference in the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome, with representatives from many sectors, education institutions and nationalities, exploring the responsibility and responses of Universities. In December 2016, DCU became a ‘University of Sanctuary’, in recognition of a range of initiatives demonstrating commitment to welcoming asylum seekers and refugees.
Addressing the audience the Pope highlighted the need, “to promote social responsibility, for the building of a more just and more humane world”. “Migration”, he said was, “a sign of the times”.Pope Francis outlined three areas, which he said were, “within your competence” as Universities; “research, teaching, and social promotion”.
He said, “I think it would be timely to begin further — even long–term — studies into the remote causes of forced migration, with the aim of identifying practical solutions, because it is important first to ensure people the right not to be forced to emigrate. It is likewise important to take into account the reactions — negative in principle, at times even discriminatory and xenophobic — that the arrival of migrants is generating in countries of ancient Christian Tradition, in order to recommend programmes for educating consciences”.
He added, “Moreover, the migrants and refugees’ many contributions to the host society certainly deserve greater appreciation, as do those contributions that benefit their communities of origin”. Pope Francis encouraged Universities to, “set up programmes aimed at fostering the education of refugees, at various levels, both by offering correspondence courses for those living in reception camps and centres, and by allocating study grants that allow for their relocation. By taking advantage of the extensive international academic network, universities can also facilitate the recognition of the qualifications and professional status of migrants and refugees, to their benefit and that of the societies that welcome them” He also added the need for Universities, “to educate their own students — some of whom will become political leaders, entrepreneurs and creators of culture — to understand the migratory phenomenon, in a perspective of justice, global co–responsibility and communion in cultural diversity”.
Finally the Pope addressed the impact Universities can make in contributing positively to refugees and migrants. “The sphere of social promotion views the university as an institution that undertakes to bear the burdens of the society in which it operates, by exercising first and foremost its role of critical conscience with regard to the various forms of political, economic and cultural powers. “Universities can carry out their role as privileged actors even in the social sphere, such as, for example, by encouraging students to engage in volunteer assistance programmes for refugees, asylum seekers, and newly arrived migrants”, the Pope said.
The conference heard that there are currently over 65 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, half of whom are minors: Syria has six million internally displaced people; Lebanon, with a population of 4.5 million, is hosting 1.5 million refugees from Syria and Iraq. Europe is currently hosting 17 percent of the world’s refugees, the Americas 16 percent, Asia 11 percent, the Middle East 26 percent and Africa 30 percent.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, an estimated 28,300 people a day are forced to leave their homes. In 2016, only 189,300 refugees were resettled.The November 1st–4th conference entitled, ‘Refugees and Migrants in a Globalised World: Responsibilities and Responses of Universities’, was hosted by the Gregorian University in Rome and organised by the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), the Being the Blessing Foundation and the Centre for Interreligious Understanding.