Nordic bishops: Countries must carefully integrate migrants

The Catholic bishops of the Nordic countries have called for the careful integration of migrants, saying each country must assess how many newcomers it can receive and that migrants are obliged to obey the laws of their new homelands.

In a joint pastoral letter on migration, published Oct. 24, the bishops also warned that restrictive policies are making it nearly impossible for refugees to enter their countries and defended well-integrated migrants against expulsion.

“Migrants must be carefully integrated into their new countries; otherwise, serious problems arise,” the bishops wrote.

The letter, titled “The Earth Is Our Common Home,” is signed by the six members of the Nordic Bishops' Conference, which covers Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. They are its president, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway; its vice president, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki; Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm; Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen; Bishop David Tencer of Reykjavik, Iceland; and Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo, Norway. The conference prepared it for Oct. 25, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

At least 4.6 million people living in the five countries, about 1 in 6 residents, were born abroad, according to national statistics offices. In Sweden, 20.8% of residents were born abroad and in Finland 10.9%. Immigrants make up 19.6% of Icelandʼs population, 17.5% of Norwayʼs, and 13% of Denmarkʼs.

Duties and limits

“Each country naturally needs to assess how many migrants it is able to receive,” the bishops wrote. “When this does not happen, and when more people are received than can be integrated well, social problems result.”

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they said migrants are “obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.” This “must not be seen to exclude their legitimate right to preserve their own heritage,” they added.

“There is a risk that migrants isolate themselves and fail even to attempt to adapt to their new circumstances,” the letter says. “Over time, this tendency generates unease and conflict.” Migrants “are to be encouraged to integrate but not subjected to forced assimilation.”

Refugees and the well integrated

The bishops said social problems arising from poor integration lead to “new strictures in policy, so that it becomes near impossible to enter within our borders even for refugees and asylum seekers, who stand under the protection of international norms to which our countries are obliged.”

“In some cases, this development has reached the point where it is considered good to send away as many people as possible, including those who are well integrated and who make significant contributions to our societies,” they wrote. “The Church must raise her voice in defense of those who are in danger of being subjected to unjust treatment without due cause.”

The bishops recalled that “the Catholic Church was rebuilt, after the centuries of persecution, in our Nordic countries by migrants who brought their Catholic faith to us.” Parishes, they wrote, “often function as integration workshop.”

“To foster love of oneʼs nation, to value its traditions and heritage, is a good thing,” the letter says. “Narrow-minded nationalism, however, must be abhorrent to Catholics and to all people of good will.”

Citing Pope Leo XIVʼs visits to the Canary Islands and Lampedusa and his call to “disarm our language,” the bishops said public coverage of and discourse about immigration “tend to become harsher, less nuanced, and more aggressive.”

“Europe is searching for a new balance in this area,” they wrote. “We must be realistic about our limitations, human and material. Still, we must be ready never to reject a suffering brother or sister who calls on us for help.”

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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