“The Iron Curtain is up again, just differently”. It was said by cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and chairman of the Committee of Congresses of Mercy, while he was at a press conference for the presentation of the European Apostolic Congress of Mercy (Rome, 31 March – 4 April 2016) and the World Apostolic Congress of Mercy (Philippines, 16-20 January 2017), at the Newsroom of the Holy See today. Asked by the press about what can be done to spread mercy in a Europe that is struggling with the huge flows of migratory movements, the cardinal of Vienna answered: “The Church can do a lot, all politicians who have faith can do a lot”. “We should not forget that Europe has been blood and tears for centuries due to wars between Christians. Now, confronted with the challenge of migrants and refugees – which is a big challenge –, there’s the risk everyone will retreat behind their own boundaries. Borders, barriers, walls are back. The Iron Curtain is up again, just differently”. “Immigration is a huge challenge – went on Schönborn –, which requires caution, charity, mercy to defeat the fears, the new nationalisms that seemed to have been overcome”. “We are in the midst of a nationalistic wave”, thinks the cardinal, who believes taht “the European Bishops failed to find a word, a common encouragement”. “We have not gone so far yet”, he commented: “Ccee has not said a strong word yet about Europe’s being challenged by peoples’ migration and has not even looked into the sources of what is a tragedy for Europe, the Near East and Africa”.