Foreign Minister's visit to Rome and the Holy See
As the first activity of his visit to the Holy See and the city of Rome, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie met today at the Pallazo San Callisto -in Rome- with the Undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Father Michael Czerny.
The Dicastery, which works jointly with the Vatican's Secretariat of State, was created by Pope Francis to address the issues of justice and peace, migrations and health.
Faurie and Czerny discussed the project "Bridges of solidarity - Integrated pastoral plan to assist Venezuelan migrants in South America," recently launched by the Vatican with the aim of welcoming, protecting and integrating Venezuelans leaving their country to settle in other South American countries.
Pope Francis was the promoter of this programme, which was developed jointly with eight Episcopal Conferences in South America, including Argentina.
The Argentine Foreign Minister expressed Argentina's interest in receiving information on the programmes of the Dicastery and in cooperating in any necessary actions. Faurie assured that Argentina, as well as the other members of the Lima Group, is concerned over the deepening humanitarian crisis and the situation of Human Rights in Venezuela and believes that these issues should be addressed by the international community.
· SANT’EGIDIO
Faurie was later welcomed by representatives of the Sant’Egidio Community, with whom he held a meeting and a luncheon. The meeting with the Argentine Foreign Minister was headed by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, Chaplain of the Sant’Egidio Community, and attended by the founder of the Community, Andrea Riccardi, and his spokesperson for Latin America, Gianni La Bella, who discussed with Faurie the 30-year-old presence of the Community in Argentina.
The officials further addressed the implementation of the "Syria Programme" in Argentina. "We acknowledge and appreciate the work carried out by the Sant’Egidio Community in Argentina, aimed at helping those who need it the most," the Argentine Foreign Minister stated.
The Sant’Egidio Community is a secular movement dedicated to the promotion of inter-religious dialogue, ecumenism and solidarity. It was founded in Rome in 1968 right after the second Vatican Council and is now based in over 70 countries, with nearly 50,000 members worldwide.
In Argentina, the movement was established in 1987 in the neighbourhoods of La Boca, Barracas and Constitución (in the City of Buenos Aires) and some towns in the Greater Buenos Aires area, such as Gregorio de Laferrere.
