Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia has written to Nicola Sturgeon saying the Catholic Church will do all it can to assist the Scottish Government in welcoming refugees.

The archbishop of Glasgow (above) said he was ‘inspired by Pope Francis’ to offer the Church’s help to ‘support and assist the new arrivals to our country.’

The president of the bishop’s Conference of Scotland wrote on behalf of all of Scotland’s bishops to say the Scottish Church stood read to answer Pope Francis’ call for ‘every Catholic parish community in Europe to offer support to refugee families currently fleeing to our continent from the Middle East.’

Many of our parishioners hail from families with a history of fleeing conflict and poverty in the 19th and 20th centuries to find a new home in Scotland.

“In front of the tragedy of the tens of thousands of refugees escaping death by war or hunger on the path towards the hope of life the Gospel calls us, asks us to be ‘neighbours’ of the smallest and most abandoned,” he said. “In the days since, the UK Government has unveiled its plan to accept up to 20,000 refugees from Syria over the next five years and I note that your government is fully committed to cooperating with the UK authorities in whatever action needs to be taken to help alleviate this humanitarian crisis.”

Archbishop Tartaglia said he wished to let the Scottish Government know the Church would support ‘any plans that may emerge in the months to come to support and assist the new arrivals to our country’ and the bishop’s conference would place ‘parish resources at the service of those 21st century newcomers who find themselves in greatest need.’

“Many of our parishioners hail from families with a history of fleeing conflict and poverty in the 19th and 20th centuries to find a new home in Scotland,” he said. “In the subsequent decades we have established an effective network of parishes that exist to promote the Christian faith and thus contribute to the common good.”

Europe’s refugee crisis has become increasingly acute in recent weeks with tens of thousands of refugges have been trying to reach the continent after fleeing conflicts in countries such as Syria and Libya.

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