“The agreement reached by the Parliament and the Council on the new Pact on Migration and Asylum manifests the capacity of the European Union to deliver, also on divisive issues. It also recognises that migration is a common challenge for all the EU, and no Member State can be left alone”. Thus begins a statement released today by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), setting out its stance on the recent agreement reached by the EU institutions. “Nevertheless, it is necessary to deliver well, in line with EU’s identity and values”, the European bishops said. “Many entities that work first hand with migrants and asylum seekers, some of them Catholic, have expressed their deep concerns on this agreement”. The danger is that this “new Pact will increase the suffering of migrants and asylum seekers, producing massive detentions at our boarders, even of families and small children, and the deportation of people to third countries that are not as ‘safe’ as often depicted. There is the real risk that with this Pact on Migration and Asylum the EU will fail to protect the right to asylum and other human rights”. We call on the EU, COMECE added, “to be courageous in facing this epochal challenge of people on the move who seek a safer and better life for themselves and their dear ones. The EU has already demonstrated its ability to do so with Ukrainians fleeing the war”.