Vatican City - Children who are forced to emigrate must be protected from "the risk of exploitation," Pope Benedict XVI said in in a message issued by the Vatican on Friday. The pope's message was prepared for the 96th edition of the Catholic church's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be marked worldwide on January 17, 2010.
"This year's theme - Minor migrants and refugees - touches an aspect that Christians view with great attention," Benedict said.
The 82-year-old pontiff quoted a passage in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus warns that in the Last Judgement, God will punish those adults who have harmed children, considering the deed as evil as if it were directed against Jesus himself.
"As a child, Jesus himself experienced migration for, as the Gospel recounts, in order to flee the threats of Herod, he had to seek refuge in Egypt together with Joseph and Mary." the pontiff added, again citing the Gospel of Matthew.
Benedict noted that despite "increasing public awareness of the need for immediate and incisive action to protect minors," many are still "left to themselves and, in various ways, face the risk of exploitation."
The pontiff mentioned what he said is a typical aspect of the migration of minors: the situation of children born in the host country or of those who do not live with their parents, who emigrated after their birth, but join them later.
"These adolescents belong to two cultures with all the advantages and problems attached to their dual background, a condition that can nevertheless offer them the opportunity to experience the wealth of an encounter between different cultural traditions," he said.
Benedict stressed the importance that these "young people" be given the possibility of attending school and subsequently of being integrated into the world of work, and that their social integration be facilitated by appropriate educational and social structures.
Statistics, the pontiff said, show an increase in those minors who, for various reasons, are fleeing their own country, where they are not given adequate protection and are part of the category of refugees seeking asylum.
While governments should take the responsibility in coordinating efforts to assist such refugees, Benedict said he wished to "invite all Christians to become aware of the social and pastoral challenges posed by migrant and refugee minors."
Jesus' words resound in our hearts: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" he said, citing Christ's words as quoted in the Gospel of Matthew.
