Senior Polish churchman: 'It is our task to accept refugees'
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
15.01.2018 13:20
A senior Polish Roman Catholic Church official has said that a meeting with a refugee is an opportunity for every Christian to encounter Jesus Christ himself.
Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz celebrates Mass at Warsaw’s Church of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus on Sunday, marking the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz made the remark on Sunday as he celebrated Mass in a Warsaw church to mark the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
In a homily at the Polish capital’s Church of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Cardinal Nycz invoked a passage from the Bible’s Book of Exodus that reads: “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens…” He said that these words referred accurately to “our Polish situation.”
The cardinal added: “How many times were we [Poles] those who migrated for work, in search of an easier and better life, during wars and in the post-war period?”
Cardinal Nycz, who is the metropolitan bishop of Warsaw, also referred to Pope Francis’ message on World Day of Migrants and Refugees, saying that “it is our task and the task of the Church to accept refugees, protect them against all kind of threats, promote them in an environment in which they have found themselves while seeking a better life or escaping the threat of death or persecution, and participate in the process of the integration of these people.”
Religious services to mark World Day of Migrants and Refugees were celebrated in all major Polish cities on Sunday. They featured a special prayer for refugees and exiles.
(mk/gs/pk)