Da “La Croix” edizione internazionale

Welcome migrants in order to survive, says Italian archbishop

The truth of human history is the truth that recognizes the other as a brother, says Archbishop Gian Carlo Perego of Ferrara-Comacchio

Agnès Rotivel, Ferrara
Italy

October 19, 2018

Scene of everyday life in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, which is experiencing an aging and declining population. (Photo by A. Gandolfi/Parallelozero/Réa)

In Northern Italy’s region of Emilia Romagna, a bastion of the left for 40 years, the League Party of Matteo Salvini is sweeping away the country’s traditional political parties.

The fear of immigration and displacement is pushing an aging population towards the League, especially in the Emilian city of Ferrara.

Archbishop Gian Carlo Perego of Ferrara-Comacchio wants to convince people that migrants are the future of Italy, a country where the population is in free fall.

The bishop’s palace is an imposing building in the city center, to the left of the cathedral and opposite the Est family chateau. In Italy, power and the Church have never been far from each other, even in Emilia Romagna’s land of the left.

The archbishop’s office is intimidating. A room with enormously high ceilings, to which one is duly shown after having crossed several large chambers where one’s footsteps echo on the floor.

Since spring in 2017, the bishop’s palace has been occupied by Archbishop Gian Carlo Perego. He succeeded Archbishop Luigi Negri, a leading Church conservative who was replaced just two months after turning seventy-five.

The young historian Pietro Pinna ironically calls Archbishop Perego “the most left-wing politician in town, and a courageous man.”

Many people in Ferrara are well aware of the League’s nationalist and anti-immigrant slogans. They were not happy with the appointment of Archbishop Perego.

Perego, who will be 58 next month, directed the Migrants Foundation for eight years prior to his appointment to Ferrara. The foundation is an organization of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and is responsible for the care of migrants. Perego has also been involved in Caritas.

“Inter-mingling is an inevitable reality and a response to Italy’s demographic crisis,” he said.

“The challenge for Italy is to reconcile a country that is dying with young people who come from elsewhere, in order to begin a new history. If we close our door to migrants, we will disappear. I’m speaking about current realities, not just points of view,” the archbishop stressed.

He uses statistics to contradict the “perceptions” of Ferrara’s inhabitants who feel that they are being swamped by migrants.

“Out of the 130,000 inhabitants of Ferrara, there are 13,000 migrants. Half of them of them come from three countries: Romania, Albania and the Ukraine.”

“Ferrara is one of the most ancient towns in Europe, both literally and figuratively. In this town, there are two deaths for every new birth. In the country, there are four deaths per birth,” he said. “More people are dying than being born.”

According to Migrants Foundation statistics, 550,000 small businesses have been created by migrants in Italy. Only 1,800 of these are in Ferrara.

“This is the lowest number in the whole of Emilia Romagna,” the archbishop points out.

Several organizations, including Caritas, take care of the most vulnerable migrants in Ferrara, like young women — many of whom are pregnant when they arrive. They are looked after until the government decides to let them stay for political or humanitarian reasons, or not.

Archbishop Perego refers to respect for “human dignity,” “reciprocal acknowledgement,” “dialogue with the other,” and free circulation within Europe.

“When the doors are closed,” he said, “we diminish ourselves, and what happened at Macerata occurs.”

Macerata is a peaceful little town in the center of Italy. At the beginning of February, an extreme right militant opened fire on some African migrants, injuring six, after having heard that some Nigerians were suspected of murdering a young girl.

“Liberty, equality, fraternity: do these words still mean anything? If they do, they are not valid only for a few, but for everyone.”

The archbishop speaks of the need to remember the words of the pope at Lampedusa, in July 2013, when he quoted the question that God asked Cain who had just killed his brother Abel, in Genesis: “Where is your brother?”

Archbishop Perego insists that for those in the Church “the truth of human history is the truth that recognizes the other as a brother.”

“l’Unità”, 28 luglio 1957: sui Trattati di Roma

«La manodopera italiana entrerà in concorrenza sugli stessi mercati con la manodopera – a bassissimo costo – dei paesi d’oltre mare»

«l’economia italiana corre il rischio di vedersi privata della mano d’opera migliore attraverso l’emigrazione degli operai specializzati»

«La “libera circolazione dei capitali” significa che i monopoli di ognuno dei sei paesi sono liberi di trasferire i loro capitali da una zona all’altra scegliendo quella dove esistono le possibilità di realizzare maggiori profitti. Date le condizioni di inferiorità nelle quali si trova la nostra economia è possibile che attraverso questa libera circolazione di capitali, vi sia nel nostro paese una penetrazione di tipo imperialistico di capitale straniero, soprattutto tedesco. In secondo è possibile che si verifichi da parte dei monopoli italiani una fuga di capitali dall’Italia.»

Padroni e servi

“By redefining immigration as a moral issue, elites have shut down debate over its costs. That’s helpful for them, since for the affluent, immigration has few costs and many upsides. Low-skilled immigrants don’t compete in upscale job markets. Not many recent arrivals from El Salvador are becoming lawyers or green energy lobbyists. An awful lot of them are becoming housekeepers. Mass immigration makes household help affordable. That’s one of the main reasons elites support it.

Domenica mattina

E’ domenica mattina. Oziando, mi imbatto in questo:

Non conosco il sig.Carlson. Vado a vedere i commenti al tweet di Trump. C’è il solito codazzo di trolls e insultatori gratuiti, fra cui spiccano alcuni che danno del bugiardo a Trump, perché il libro non è neppure presente nella classifica del NYT, in nessuna posizione.

Già in preda ad amare riflessioni sull’attitudine dei politici a mentire, considero che forse il NYT è di parte, per cui decido di dare un’occhiata su Amazon. Il libro c’è, è secondo assoluto, dietro un romanzo, ma è primo nella categoria libri di politica, surclassando Bob Woodward. A questo punto, mi viene un dubbio. Vado sul NYT. Il libro è al primo posto assoluto. I bugiardi sono i trolls.

Comprato subito. Letto il 15%. Il libro è una vera delizia.

 

 

 

Sono veleni?

E’ vero: non mi piacciono i preti. Lo ammetto, e aggiungo che mi piacciono sempre meno. Però facciamo un ragionamento pacato. Negli anni sono venute fuori tante storie poco edificanti, storie di soldi e sesso, pedofili e vescovi che danno copertura ai pedofili, vescovi che sono loro stessi pedofili, lobby gay, preti che rubano e preti che fanno festini a base di sesso e cocaina. Poi ci sono quelli che dicono non generalizziamo, in ogni comunità ci sono le pecore nere, l’omosessualità non è mica un crimine, non si giudica dalle apparenze, e insomma: sono veleni contro Sua Santità.

E saranno veleni. Però vorrei che chiunque legga questo post rispondesse d’impulso alla seguente domanda: mandereste vostro figlio all’oratorio se il parroco fosse questo qua?

Un indiano d’America

Milton Friedman

“If you pay people not to work and tax them when they do, don’t be surprised if you get unemployment.”