“Welcoming is an expression of love”, recalls Pope Francis

I thank Sister Milena Pizziolo for her words and I greet all of you who are taking part in the formation colloquium of the “Chair of Welcome”, promoted by the sisters of Fraterna Domus. And first of all I want to congratulate you, my dear sisters, for this initiative, through which you have put your charisma, your experience and also your structures at the service of those who work in different ways in the field of hospitality: a field rich in values ​​and spirituality, but also crossed by the dramas of our time. I thank you for your commitment and I also thank the other associations, institutes, foundations and communities that collaborate with the Chaire de l’Accueil.

I share with you some reflections with reference to the encyclical Fratelli tutti (FT).

Reception is one of the features that characterize what I have called “an open world” (1). The encyclical is a call to “think and create an open world” (2) – against the “sacristy” closure that we sometimes have! –; and you respond to this call: you do it through the work you do every day, quietly, without turning on the lights, and you do it also with these formation meetings. Indeed, in order to be able to act, to be able to generate a reception, we must also think about the reception. Here is the great value of moments like this that you are living, in which you together deepen the different aspects: anthropological, ethical, religious, historical, etc. But your “Chair” is not a sanitized laboratory where you elaborate abstract formulas: it is a moment of reflection inseparable from work in the field, they go together. By listening and studying, you keep the faces, the stories, the concrete problems in mind and you share them with the speakers and the discussion groups. And this is very important.

Back to the encyclical. There are two passages that seem particularly interesting to you. I focus on those.

The first is found in the third chapter, under the title “The growing openness of love.” I quote him: “Love finally puts us in tension towards universal communion. No one matures or reaches fullness in isolation. By its own dynamic, love demands a growing openness, a greater capacity to welcome others, in an endless adventure that orients all the peripheries towards a real sense of mutual belonging. Jesus said to us: “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:8)” (3). Welcoming is an expression of love, of this dynamism of openness which pushes us to pay attention to the other, to seek the best for their life (4) and which in its purity is the charity infused by God. To the extent that it is imbued with this attitude of openness and acceptance, a society becomes capable of integrating all its members, even those who for various reasons are “existential strangers”, or “occult exiles”, as are found sometimes, for example, people with disabilities or the elderly (5). On this aspect of love, the fundamental reference is Benedict XVI’s first encyclical Deus caritas est.

The second stage of Fratelli tuttique I propose to you is number 141. I quote it in its entirety: “The true quality of the different countries of the world is measured by this ability to think not only as a country but also as a human family, and this is proves especially in critical moments. Nationalisms based on withdrawal into oneself ultimately reflect this incapacity for gratuitousness, the error of believing that one can develop alongside the ruin of others and that by closing oneself off from others one is better protected. The migrant is seen as a usurper who offers nothing. Thus, we come to naively think that the poor are dangerous or useless and that the powerful are generous benefactors. Only a social and political culture, which takes free reception into account, can have a future”. We are in chapter 4, entitled “A heart open to the world”, where it is a question of “gratuitousness that welcomes” (6). The aspect of gratuitousness is essential to generate fraternity and social friendship. For you, I underline the last sentence: “Only a social and political culture, which takes into account free reception, can have a future” (7). Free reception. We often talk about the contribution that migrants make or can make to the societies that welcome them. It is true and it is important. But the fundamental criterion does not lie in the usefulness of the person, but in the value in itself that he represents. The other deserves to be welcomed not so much for what he has, or what he can have, or what he can give, but for what he is.

I have always been struck, in the Old Testament, by the recurrence – in the Prophets, in the historical Books – of the three people for whom we must pay particular attention: the widow, the orphan and the migrant. And we repeat in Deuteronomy, in Exodus – in Exodus not so much, but in Deuteronomy – in Leviticus, we repeat this: attention, care for widows, for migrants, for orphans. It’s recurring. For example: “If you are harvesting, do not pass another time: what remains there, which advances there, leave it for the widow, the orphan, the migrant”. There is always that. It is important to resume this tradition of welcoming, of the way of welcoming those who have nothing or who are going through a difficult situation.

Dear brothers and sisters, I leave you with these avenues for reflection, and I encourage you to continue your path of formation, in order to be able to experience hospitality better and to promote a culture of hospitality. May the Virgin accompany you. I bless you with all my heart, and I ask you to pray for me. THANKS !

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