Pope Francis said today that “the world has not yet become aware that emigration is a human right,” as he said at a press conference during his return trip to Iraq, where he recalled that many of its inhabitants have no chosen. .
“As I was driving back from Qaraqosh to Erbil, I saw so many young people. What is the future of these young people? Where will it go? So many will have to leave the country, “Francisco told reporters.
The pontiff explained that immigration “is a double right, that of not emigrating and that of being able to emigrate. These people do not have both options, because they cannot emigrate and they cannot emigrate, because the world has not yet become aware of that immigration is a human right. “
Francisco commented that during a meeting, an Italian sociologist, talking about the decrease in the birth rate, told him that in this country “within 40 years we will have to import foreigners to work and pay our pension”.
“But immigration is experienced as an invasion,” the pope lamented.
He recalled that after the Erbil liturgy, with which he ended his visit to Iraq, he found the father of Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian-Kurdish boy who drowned on the beaches of Turkey: “Alan Kurdi is a symbol. A symbol that goes beyond a child who died while migrating. It is the symbol of people who cannot survive, it is a symbol of humanity. “
“Urgent measures are needed for people to have jobs in their countries so that they do not have to emigrate,” he said before adding that it is not just about getting to the beaches, but also about being able to “receive, accompany and integrate” them.
And for that he thanked the generous countries that receive migrants, citing the example of Lebanon and Jordan.