At the start of his meeting with migrants in Spain on June 11, 2026, Pope Leo made a profound gesture. “Dear migrants,” he said, “before saying anything else to you, I want to bow before your dignity.”
In other words, before we are any ethnicity, nationality, religion, economic or social class, we are first of all humans. As Elias Chacour, the Melkite Archbishop of Galilee, said many years ago on a visit to Sydney, “I was not born a Christian, or an Israeli, or a Palestinian. I was born a baby!” We are, first of all, human. Only after that do we take on family, social, ethnic, linguistic, educational, economic, national, and religious identities. Our basic humanity confers on us an infinite dignity. We are made in the “image and likeness of God”. No one, no authority, no other belonging, no other conferral of identity, nothing done to us, nothing we do, neither achievement nor even any major sin we may have committed, can rob us of that fundamental human dignity. We are forever God’s beloved.
From June 14 to 20, 2026, Australia observed Refugee Week. This year’s celebration marked a significant milestone. Counting the first intake of 4,000 refugees from Europe after World War II, nearly one million refugees have settled in Australia over the last eighty years. In fact, apart from the indigenous peoples who have inhabited this land for more than 65,000 years, all of us are recent migrants or refugees and their descendants. We, our parents, our grandparents, and perhaps a handful of generations beyond that who dreamt of a better future for themselves and their children, arrived on these shores only over the last 240 years. Migrants and refugees built this country as we know it today - the farms, the factories, the roads, the railways, the cities. They brought their cultures, faiths, foods, and traditions. They created a rich, diverse, multicultural, multi-religious society.
By and large, our diversity is enriching, strong, resilient, respectful, and tolerant. It is not perfect: there is racism, prejudice, and division. We have yet to acknowledge and reconcile fully with the indigenous peoples of this land. In recent years, there has been a surge in antisemitism, Islamophobia and white supremacy, but apart from these fringe extremists, overall, Australian society works reasonably well.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention. Globally, there are an estimated 42 to 43 million refugees, one and a half times the population of Australia. In addition, there are some 9 million asylum seekers and nearly 70 million internally displaced people. This sea of suffering humanity deserves respect, welcome, hospitality, and protection so that they too can live their lives to the full and raise their families in peace and security.
In the 2024 General Assembly, Columbans named migrants and refugees as a missionary priority. This commitment is grounded in the Gospel: to show mercy to our neighbour, particularly those who are suffering, like the traveller beaten, robbed, and left at the side of the road in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This concern has been honed by first-hand experience. Just like the ancient Irish missionary monks whose motto was exilii pro Christo (exiles for Christ), we Columbans have also been exiles. We have lived in other countries. We have known the pain of loneliness, isolation, and not understanding or being understood. We have learned new languages, new cultures, new ways of relating, and through this paschal process, our lives have been enriched. That is why Columbans stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees, and the religious and civic agencies that support them. All people of every ethnicity, nationality, and religion are entitled to live a life consonant with their inviolable human dignity as beloved children of God. Let us bow before their infinite dignity. Let us welcome them as our sisters and brothers, made, like us, in the image and likeness of God, one family, one nation, a magnificent diversity that enriches us all and is truly a blessing from God.
Rev Dr Patrick McInerney
Regional Director of Oceania
directoroceania@columban.org.au
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - August 2026
