CHAPTER
II
THE
DELEGATE FOR MIGRATION AFFAIRS
9. We
establish in the Consistorial Congregation the Office of Delegate for Migration
Affairs.
10. a) The
function of this Delegate is to foster and promote by every apt means the
welfare, especially spiritual, of Catholic migrants of whatever language, race,
nationality or, with necessary exceptions, rite. In doing this, the Delegate is
to confer, when necessary, with our Secretary of State or with government
officials or agencies.
b) To this end, the Delegate is, in the name and by authority of the
Consistorial Congregation, to assist and support by his activities and counsel
all Catholic organizations, institutions and agencies, whether national or
inter-national, including—without prejudice to the rights of bishops—diocesan
and parochial groups that aim at the same goal.
11. a) The
Delegate has charge of missionaries to migrants and chaplains on ships, whether
secular or regular, and their directors.
b) He shall, by order of the Consistorial Congregation, direct and supervise
these men, and not neglect to report on them.
12. It
will also be the duty of the Delegate to recruit and present to the
Consistorial Congregation priests who wish to devote themselves to the
spiritual care of those who are migrating or have migrated and of those who ply
the seas or are for whatever reason on board ships or service them.
13. a)
Priests approved for the work and appointed missionaries to migrants or ship
chaplains by rescript of the Consistorial Congregation will be assigned to a
mission or to a special ship by the Delegate.
b) The Delegate shall be careful to provide these men with aid they need,
whether he does so personally and immediately, or indirectly through other
ecclesiastics, preferably through their Directors.
14. The
Delegate shall notify the local Ordinaries and the Directors of the imminent
arrival of immigrants.
15. The
Delegate shall strive to promote and guide everything that might contribute to
the success of an annual Migrant Day.
16. At the
end of each year, the Delegate shall prepare and send to the Consistorial
Congregation a report on the material and spiritual state of the missions and
on the observance of ecclesiastical discipline by the missionaries to migrants and
by ship chaplains.
17. a) We,
therefore, abolish and hereby declare suppressed the Office of Prelate for
Italian Emigrants.
b) We likewise declare completely at an end the functions of the Visitors or
Delegates of whatever language or nationality, previously established for the
religious welfare of immigrants and refugees living in Europe and America.
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