Perspectief 2017-36

Perspectief 10 Werk van jonge theologen therefore not overlook the pressing issue of human rights, including those of migrants. Pacem in Terris has been called utopian for its focus on human rights at the height of the Cold War, a time in which an encyclical devoted exclusively to practical issues such as nuclear warfare was to be more expected 22 . John XXIII, however, outlined “a Catholic approach to peacemaking”, which regards respect for human rights as the basis for peace 23 . In the postconciliar era, the topic of human rights remained on the agenda. Perhaps the most instructive illustration thereof is the Instruction on the Pastoral Care of People Who Migrate , which held a strong focus on migrant worker rights. It emphasised the benefits of migration, most importantly its “[promotion of] the unity of the human family.” 24 Furthermore, it asserts migrants’ responsibility to make an effort to integrate 25 , and lay people’s responsibility to assist in this integration 26 . Hitherto, social teaching on migration had focused on migration on economic grounds, and mostly within a European context. Catholic teaching neglected to comment explicitly on the situation of refugees, most of whom lived elsewhere in the world at the time. This geographical restriction vanished with the papacy of John Paul II. Under the era of Wojtyła, Catholic social teaching began to take special interest in forcibly displaced people around the globe. In 1981 the pope defined migration on economic grounds as a “necessary evil” 27 , and in 1987 he characterised the refugee crisis in general as “the festering of a witnessed the rise of groups such as the ‘Church of the Poor’ group, who explicitly stressed the Church’s need to devote itself to those in need, including migrants. 22 Christiansen, D. (2005) Commentary on Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) in Himes, K.R. (ed.) Modern Catholic social teaching: commentaries and interpretations Washington DC, Georgetown University Press, p. 217. 23 ibid. 223. 24 Sacred Congregation for Bishops (1969) ‘Instructio de Pastorali Migratorum Cura’ AAS 61: 614-643, §2. 25 Sacred Congregation for Bishops (1969) ‘Instructio de Pastorali Migratorum Cura’ §10. 26 Sacred Congregation for Bishops (1969) ‘Instructio de Pastorali Migratorum Cura’ §56. 27 Pope John Paul II (1981) ‘Laborem Exercens’ AAS 73: 577-647, art. 23.