September 27th, World Day of Migrants and Refugees: gathering in St Peter’s to affirm that the future is welcome and integration

Encouraging humanitarian corridors and regular access routes

On the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the Community of Sant'Egidio joins the celebrations held all over the world. “People of Peace", an aggregation of migrants, who attend the Community of Sant’Egidio's Italian Language and Culture Schools, and refugees, who arrived through Humanitarian Corridors, will participate to the Sunday Angelus with Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square.

“Forced like Jesus Christ to flee” is the theme that Pope Francis chose for this year’s edition, thus inviting us to be close to all the tragedies of immigration such as the one on the island of Lesvos. It is more and more urgent the refugees are moved to safe places.

Last Tuesday Sant’Egidio signed an agreement with the Italian Ministry of the Interior for the arrival in Italy of 300 people from the Greek island, it hopes other refugees will be relocated to European countries as soon as possible. It also looks forward to opening regular routes to our continent as a matter of urgency.

Since February 2016, more than 3,200 refugees have safely arrived in Europe (2,600 in Italy included), preventing the  exploitation of human traffickers and supporting the refugees’ integration and social inclusion.