By LiCAS.news
TAIWAN – Thousands of migrant workers from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines filled the Taoyuan Arena on Sep 21, where the Catholic Church in Taiwan honored their dignity, celebrated their faith, and affirmed them as “missionaries” at the heart of the Church’s life.
More than 8,000 people — including archbishops and bishops, about 400 priests, consecrated men and women, and members of local church communities — joined the first national Gathering for Migrant Workers and Immigrants.
The event, held in the Diocese of Hsinchu, was part of the Jubilee of Hope and, according to church leaders, must not be seen as “an isolated moment, but as one step in a journey” to strengthen the pastoral care of migrants in Taiwan.
The morning session featured testimonies and presentations from immigrant communities, followed by the reading of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s message by Monsignor Erwin Balagapo, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, according to a report by Fides News Agency.
Tagle emphasized that the pastoral care of migrants “is rooted in the very Word of God.” In the Old Testament “the Lord Himself commanded His people to welcome and care for the stranger,” while in the Gospels, Christ “not only shows compassion for them, but even identifies Himself with them.”
“To extend care to migrants is, therefore, a sacred duty, a mission that draws down blessings,” the cardinal said, adding that migrants “are never to be regarded as a problem, but rather as persons who bear the living face of Christ.”
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