German missionaries call for commitment to migrants and climate action
Vatican news
While the parliamentary elections are approaching German missionaries have urged the candidates for Bundestag to undertake to fight against the deep causes of migration, including climate change, refuting the generalized narrative of migration as a national security threat.
By Lisa Zengarini
While Germany is preparing for the critical federal elections on February 23, German missionaries call for migration and development policies that are systematically based on human rights and take the long -term interests of the populations of the populations South and northern worldwide.
If you don’t want refugees to fight the causes
In a open letter addressed to the main candidatesThe Missionary Orders Conference (KMO) said that politicians should “support a vision of migrants who are not focused on problems but rather focused on people”.
“If you do not want refugees, you have to do more to fight against the causes,” said the letter, signed the president of KMO, Ursula Schulten, and the Salénis father Reinhard Gesing and the sister Bosco Birgit Baier.
Migration problems at the center of the German electoral campaign
Initially scheduled for September 28, 2025, the federal elections in Germany were presented due to the recent collapse of the “light traffic” coalition led by the social democrat Olaf Scholz.
As in the rest of Europe and elsewhere, migration is a hot button problem in Germany and has become a focal point of the electoral campaign with an extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD) adopting more proposals more radical to expel migrants.
Increased fears surrounding migration
The recent series of violent and fatal attacks involving asylum seekers in the country, intensified fears surrounding migration and prompted opposition parties to defend more strict migration policies, as well as the increase in support At AFD, now questioning in second place behind the center of the center -Mector -Christian Democrats (CDU / CSU).
The unprecedented decision of the first candidate of the CDU candidate, Freidrich Merz, last week, to work alongside AFD in order to pass an anti-immigration resolution, aroused many protests across Germany against What is considered a violation of a taboo in German post-war politics. This decision was also criticized by the Conference of German Catholic Bishops (DBK) and the Lutheran Evangelical Church (EKD) with the Jewish community.
KMO: Only a fraction of migrants arrives in Europe
In their letter, German missionaries express their deep concern concerning the account of migration simply as a national security threat, reminding candidates that only a fraction of people forced to leave their homes in the world of world intends to migrate Towards Europe: “Most flee to the neighbor country, which must absorb and manage a significantly higher migration pressure than European states. »»
While parliamentary elections are approaching disinformation on migrants and asylum seekers that circulate largely on social networks in Germany.
The urgent need for climate action to reduce refugees
They also noticed that an increasing number of these refugees are also victims of the effects of climate change, the emergence of which “we in the world of world are and are also responsible”.
KMO therefore urged candidates to publicly recognize the historic responsibility of Germany to support the poorer nations and to defend people whose fundamental rights are violated: “You must have the courage to confront the inhabitants of our country at the Scientifically founded truth that we, as a humanity, as a humanity, endanger the conditions of survival of millions and billions of people, and therefore, our own prosperity is also in danger, ” they exhorted
For their part, religious orders said that they were ready to support “the necessary socio-ecological transformation” with their efforts “at the service of the people of our country and in the countries of the world of world”.
KMO brings together 92 religious orders active worldwide within the German conference of religious superiors (Dok). Its members are on the ground and therefore know the impact of climate change on the local populations they serve in the world of world.
(Tagstotranslate) Germany
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