United Kingdom: mgr. McAleenan (Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales), “no one should be obliged to risk their lives or the lives of their children in a dangerous boat on the high seas”

“All those who value human life, whatever their position towards migrants and refugees, are united in pain after the tragedy in the Channel”. It is mgr. Paul McAleenan, bishop and president of the Office for migratory policies of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, who takes an official position about what happened in the Channel on Tuesday 27th October, when a small boat of migrants who were trying to reach the British coasts capsized, killing four people, including two children, aged 5 and 8. “Immediate condolence should be sent to the dead adults and children, to their families, wherever they are in the world, and to their travelling companions, who will always remember what they have witnessed”, wrote on the bishops, who wished “may no one want to make mere political considerations about the accident”. According to the bishop, “what we really need is a meeting of the minds”, that is, “a change of mentality in those who lay down the rules”, and the “heartless racketeers” should be found out; may the goal be “ensuring that no one feels obliged or encouraged to risk their lives or the lives of their children in a dangerous boat on the high seas”.
Valentina Bombelli