United Kingdom: card. Nichols, “the British migrant and refugee system does not work. They are our brothers and sisters”

(London) “The British migrant and refugee system does not work. It is overcomplicated and underfunded, and right now there are over ten thousand cases of asylum seekers who are still waiting for a decision. It is a situation that paves the way to human trafficking”. With these words, spoken yesterday during “Sunday”, the Sunday programme of BBC radio Channel four, card. Vincent Nichols, Catholic primate of England and Wales and deputy president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, criticised the migration policy of Boris Johnson’s government. “The legislation of Home Secretary Priti Patel aims to stop those who want to come in, but it’s wrong”, the cardinal said. “They are individuals, people who are our brothers and sisters”. Quoting Pope Francis’s words, the primate said that “a rhetoric promoted by the media and other groups against such people must be challenged”. “Most of Dover’s residents want to take in those who cross the Channel to seek asylum, as bishop Paul McAleenan, who visited the city, confirmed to me”, the leader of the English Catholics went on. “I think the Community Sponsorship Scheme, the migrant programme with which the government has homed twenty thousand Syrian refugees here, 30% of whom have been taken care of by Catholic parishes, should be extended, especially to children and people under age.”
Valentina Bombelli