Argentina: “The migrants have the face of Jesus”
With funding from Aid to the Church in Need, a recent project is working to integrate immigrants in Argentina and form pastoral agents to deal with the challenges of inclusion and overcome linguistic and cultural barriers.
“The immigrants need more than just compassion and material help. We need to ask them about their roots: their religion, their traditions. How can we understand popular religion, with all its traditions? How can we pray with our migrant brothers?” These are some of the questions posed by Father Juan Antonio Ramírez Moreno, secretary-general of the Argentinian Catholic Commission for Migrations Foundation (FCCAM) during a conversation with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Argentina is one of the main destinations for migrants in Latin America. In 2023, the National Statistics and Census Institute reported that there are currently close to 2.5 million immigrants in the country, representing around 6% of the population.
“We have never had such high rates of immigration and emigration as today,” Fr Juan Antonio explains. “These migratory movements have a variety of causes, but they mostly affect people with economic and cultural difficulties, trying to escape hopeless situations.”
The integration of those who arrive isn’t always easy, due to linguistic, cultural and economic barriers that make it difficult for new residents to fit in.
According to Fr Juan Antonio, the challenge is to “tap into that faith that goes beyond customs and traditions and that always expresses itself in an attitude of the heart or in works of mercy. As a Church, we want to strengthen this, and that is why we have launched a number of initiatives.”
Praying with migrants
One of these initiatives, with which ACN has been helping, is the drawing up of a document called “Praying with the Migrants”, with different texts and prayers, including a Via Crucis, celebrations of the Word, the Rosary, prayer intentions and texts from different dioceses in the country, dedicated to praying with migrant communities.
The “Praying with the migrants” document also delves into the Church’s Social Doctrine and offers “practical tools to strengthen the faith and service of volunteers who work with the most needy,” Fr Juan Antonio says.
Another one of the initiatives, the priest explains, is to form pastoral agents to work with migrants, providing knowledge and working on their spiritual formation.
According to the secretary-general of the FCCAM, it is important to speak about immigration, since: “dealing with this issue makes us more sensitive to a reality that surrounds us and which we cannot ignore. Our migrant brothers and sisters are not faceless people, each one of them has the face of Jesus. It is Jesus Christ who is reaching our shores and crossing our borders.”
An initiative that reached Pope Francis
A further initiative is a calendar decorated with drawings of the different Marian devotions in Latin America, called “Mary in the Americas”, which was designed by artist Karina Carrescia. According to the FCCAM, this project “blends faith, beauty and the symbols of our land”, and serves not only to raise funds, but also to offer a modern outlook of sacred art on the continent.
The project places the Virgin Mary at the forefront, as a symbol of hope for migrants, and has had a significant impact, having even reached the hands of Pope Francis, who, on receiving it, encouraged the artist to “continue to promote the joy of the Gospel through your art”.
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