The patriarch of Lisbon today defended, "to do justice" to the identity of the Portuguese people, the opening of society to immigrants, who today do what many Portuguese did in the past.
"I think, even to do justice to what is our identity, from all points of view, this openness to those who seek us out, who do not come to take anything from us", said Rui Valério in an interview with Lusa, after a year in office.
Adding that "no one leaves their home, their house, their family, their country, lightly, it is always driven by an urgency", the bishop recalled that, often, this urgency is not even dictated by an individual criterion.
"Most of the time, [immigrants] come because there are others who depend on their coming and their lives," he said.
Refusing to comment on the divisions that the issue of migration causes at a European level, including Portugal, the prelate warned that the way forward involves "a non-local, non-national approach, but a community approach from the point of view of the European Union".
"If there were a joint political definition here from the European Union itself to address this issue of migrants, it would be a great help, on two levels."
Firstly, on a practical level: "we know that migrants come in search of a better life, for themselves and their loved ones. And, therefore, they are people who come in search of that where human beings are most effectively fulfilled, which is at work."
Taking into account that there are "countries that, at this moment in the West, and specifically in Europe, are in need of labor", Rui Valério said that it was necessary for "all those responsible to dialogue and agree on perspectives and alignments".
"Secondly, another point that is not of minor importance has a lot to do with the identity, even cultural and humanist, of the West itself, of Europe itself," he added.
According to Rui Valério, "Europe has become what it is today, a reference, not only in the field of science and technology, but even in the field of values, ethics, and the great consecrations of humanist principles, precisely because, at a certain point, (...) these values were immediately radiated, they were never exclusive to a single nation to affirm them and apply them in concrete terms".
In this context, and "even for the affirmation of the great ethical values that are decisive and constructive in civilization, which are the prerogative of Europe, it was important that there was a decision that involved everyone, [that there were] paths that were established by the European Union itself", argued the bishop.
"It would be essential, at this crucial time from so many points of view, for the reality of migration to become an opportunity and not a problem. And for it to be an opportunity, I believe it needs this global élan from the European Union," he added.