‘Land of dreams’
Pope urges Chile to welcome migrants, holds airborne wedding
Pope Francis wrapped up his Chile visit Thursday by performing a first-of-its-kind airborne papal wedding ceremony and then celebrating a Mass on land in which he urged the South American nation to continue welcoming migrants and caring for the least fortunate among them.
Francis’ spontaneous offer to celebrate the marriage of two LATAM flight attendants at 36,000 feet came as he travelled to Iquique, a popular beach destination in northern Chile that is also home to tens of thousands of migrants who have poured into the region’s strongest and most stable economy in search of a better life.
The Argentine pope, who has frequently demanded wealthy countries open their arms to migrants and refugees, called Iquique a “land of dreams” for so many newcomers and urged Chile to continue to be a place of hospitality, jobs and justice, especially for those migrants who are exploited.
“Let us be attentive to the lack of steady employment, which destroys lives and homes,” he said. “Let us be attentive to those who profit from the irregular status of many immigrants who don’t know the language or who don’t have their papers in order.”
Francis’ insistence that countries welcome and integrate migrants fleeing war, drought or hardship has often fallen on deaf ears in Europe, where the migrant crisis has been a driving factor on politics for years. While Chile isn’t experiencing the same antiimmigrant backlash seen in the United States and Europe, the incoming right-wing government of President Sebastian Pinera is looking to crack down.
Pinera, who was previously president in 2010-14, said during the campaign that Chile would remain welcoming to immigrants who follow the law and aim to be productive members of society.
“We want to shut the doors to drug trafficking, contraband that is often associated with it and, above all, we want people who come to Chile to respect our law,” Pinera told local ADN radio in October.
Chile had the fastest rate of migrant growth of any country in Latin America in 2010-15, according to UN and church statistics, although the total numbers are comparatively small.
Most of the newcomers are Haitians, who often find a hard time integrating professionally because of language barriers.