Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, and International Migration
By Todd Scribner
www.catholicnews.com

Caritas in Veritate is Pope Benedict XVI’s third encyclical to date and is published in honor of Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio.  A primary theme throughout this new encyclical is the importance of Pope Paul’s notion of integral development and its application to the Twenty First Century world.  For both Paul VI and Benedict XVI, integral development focuses on the person in her entirety: the spiritual, intellectual, personal and material characteristics.  Although integral development presupposes a theological foundation with a view towards eternity, the notion of development has a temporal character as well, as it takes place in history.  A proper understanding of integral development must consider the economic, political, and social conditions that affect human communities around the globe.  Consequently, throughout the encyclical Benedict turns his attention to a wide range of pressing topics, including the environment, economic institutions, the nation state, and, of particular interest to us, the question of migration. 

The Holy Father explicitly addresses migration in three places (#21, 62 and 67).  His first reference places mass migration among a list of other issues that are deserving of attention in the midst of dramatic political and cultural changes in the modern world.  Responding to the complex character of these issues requires that we step back and “confront a world in need of profound cultural renewal, a world that needs to rediscover fundamental values on which to build a better future.”  In the remainder of the encyclical Pope Benedict lays out a moral vision for the future that will address the complexity of global issues. 

The second reference provides the most extended analysis of migration in the encyclical.   Here he looks at the ways mass migration presents obstacles to authentic human development.  The movement of large numbers of people across the globe can dramatically affect the shape of cultural, political, religious and economic conditions in every nation.  Because it is a global phenomenon, no country can single handedly address the problem on its own.  Pope Benedict writes that as a result of mass migration “we are facing a social phenomenon of epoch-making proportions that requires bold, forward looking policies of international cooperation if it is to be handled effectively.”  It is essential that international legal norms be put into place that will protect the rights and needs of migrants and their families.  Further, he both highlights the “significant contribution” that migrants give to their host countries through their labor and warns against treating migrants as a commodity, but rather as human beings endowed with basic human rights.

It is perhaps not surprising that Benedict follows this section with a note on the important relationship between poverty, unemployment and the dignity of work.  Any authentic form of development should aim at creating conditions that enable people to find work in their particular society and provide educational opportunities for their children.  Given the close association between unemployment, poverty and forced migration, Benedict indirectly addresses the overlap between migration and economic development.

In his third reference to migration, the Holy Father elaborates on his earlier observation of the importance of creating international legal norms given the globalization of problems that confront the world community.  The reform of international bodies like the United Nations and related economic institutions is crucial if the world community hopes to address global problems like environmental degradation, food security, economies in crisis, timely disarmament and unregulated migration.  There is “an urgent need of a true world political authority” that would be “universally recognized and . . . vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights.”  In calling for this ‘world political authority’ it would be an error to assume that he is calling for the abolition of the state, a point that he explicitly guards against elsewhere (#41).  Rather, he is drawing attention to the fact that global problems need an international solution, as individual states are not equipped to provide such solutions on their own.  This brief overview cannot provide an exhaustive review of the multiple observations made by Benedict XVI that are applicable to migration.  Instead, it focuses primarily on overt references.  An extended study would show a wide range of factors that feed into the migration problem and that are relevant to our work in the JFI campaign.  We already noted Benedict’s indirect association between poverty, employment and forced migration.  Elsewhere Benedict addresses problems that could easily be applied to migrants and their families, including the exploitation of vulnerable populations by employers (#22), the economic effects of globalization (#33), and even the effect that environmental degradation (#51) has on migration patterns.

Excerpts from Caritas in Veritate

21 “ The economic development that Paul VI hoped to see was meant to produce real growth, of benefit to everyone and genuinely sustainable. It is true that growth has taken place, and it continues to be a positive factor that has lifted billions of people out of misery — recently it has given many countries the possibility of becoming effective players in international politics. Yet it must be acknowledged that this same economic growth has been and continues to be weighed down by malfunctions and dramatic problems, highlighted even further by the current crisis. This presents us with choices that cannot be postponed concerning nothing less than the destiny of man, who, moreover, cannot prescind from his nature. The technical forces in play, the global interrelations, the damaging effects on the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing, large-scale migration of peoples, often provoked by some particular circumstance and then given insufficient attention, the unregulated exploitation of the earth's resources: all this leads us today to reflect on the measures that would be necessary to provide a solution to problems that are not only new in comparison to those addressed by Pope Paul VI, but also, and above all, of decisive impact upon the present and future good of humanity.”

62. “Another aspect of integral human development that is worthy of attention is the phenomenon of migration.  This is a striking phenomenon because of the sheer numbers of people involved, the social, economic, political, cultural and religious problems it raises, and the dramatic challenges it poses to nations and the international community. We can say that we are facing a social phenomenon of epoch-making proportions that requires bold, forward-looking policies of international cooperation if it is to be handled effectively. Such policies should set out from close collaboration between the migrants' countries of origin and their countries of destination; it should be accompanied by adequate international norms able to coordinate different legislative systems with a view to safeguarding the needs and rights of individual migrants and their families, and at the same time, those of the host countries. No country can be expected to address today's problems of migration by itself. We are all witnesses of the burden of suffering, the dislocation and the aspirations that accompany the flow of migrants. The phenomenon, as everyone knows, is difficult to manage; but there is no doubt that foreign workers, despite any difficulties concerning integration, make a significant contribution to the economic development of the host country through their labour, besides that which they make to their country of origin through the money they send home. Obviously, these labourers cannot be considered as a commodity or a mere workforce. They must not, therefore, be treated like any other factor of production. Every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.”

67 “One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago.”