(Brussels) “Following Pope Francis, the Catholic Church in Europe reaffirms ‘our shared responsibility to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate’, migrants and refugees in our societies”. They are “first of all persons who have faces, names and individual stories” and “deserve being treated in accordance with their inherent human dignity and their fundamental rights”. Mgr. Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and President of COMECE, released a statement about the UN agreement on migration that is being discussed in these days. “In this regard, the principles of the centrality of the human person and his real needs and of the common good must preside EU and member states’ internal and external policies, also in migratory issues”. As the UN Global Compact is in its final stages of adoption, “we also encourage national political authorities, in the words of Pope Francis, ‘to ground responsibility for the shared global management of international migration in the values of justice, solidarity and compassion’”. On 11 December, the Global Compact is due to be signed in Marrakech. Mgr. Hollerich stressed: “Fruit of a vast negotiation, it recognizes a shared and common responsibility of authorities and societies in countries of departure, transit and arrival to frame and regulate migration for the benefit of all human persons and communities involved. It aims at providing security and protection to migrant persons as well as to hosting societies by promoting legal migration pathways, preventing thus human trafficking, deadly journeys, family disruption and violence”.