Shared Responsibility of Global Migration Discussed

A lecture on “Global Migration: Shared Responsibility and Solidarity” by the Most Reverend Bernardito C. Auza, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States and Titular Archbishop of Suacia, will be held at The University of Scranton Tuesday, Oct. 23. The lecture, which is free of charge and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center on the University’s campus.

Archbishop Auza’s talk will draw on the United Nation’s work on behalf of migrants through the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which is expected to be the first, intergovernmental negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

 “Pope Francis encapsulates these shared responsibilities and solidarity in four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate” said Archbishop Auza in statement at the concluding session of the United Nation’s intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. “My Delegation firmly believes there has been an honest effort on the part of all to build the edifice of the Global Compact on the firm foundations of these principles that guarantee respect for the human dignity of all migrants.”

The 2018 concluding session of intergovernmental negotiations on migration was the culmination of a nearly two-year process. The agreement details 23 international objectives, including the eradication of human trafficking and “use of migration detention only as a measure of last resort.”

In his statement, Archbishop Auza also said the Global Compact is the “first-ever comprehensive framework on migration will serve as the international reference point for best practices and international cooperation in the global management of migration, not only for Governments, but also for non-governmental entities among which are the faith-based organizations, who are truly the hands and feet on the ground to assist migrants in difficulty. This Global Compact will make it more difficult for anyone – states, civil society or anyone of us – to be unaware of the challenges that people on the move face and to fail to meet our shared responsibilities towards them, in particular toward those most in need of our solidarity.”

Born in the Republic of the Philippines, Archbishop Auza was ordained a priest in 1985. He earned a doctorate in theology and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1990. He served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Madagascar, Bulgaria and Albania, and in the Secretariat of State in the Vatican. In 2008, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti and that same year was ordained Titular Archbishop of Suacia. He was appointed Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States in 2014.

The Holy See holds the status of Permanent Observer at the United Nations, rather than of a full member status due primarily to the desire of the Holy See to maintain absolute neutrality in specific political problems, according to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations website.

For more information about the lecture at the University, contact the University’s Office of Government and Community Relations at 570-941-4419 or email community@scranton.edu.