The leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales has berated the government over its slow response to the refugee crisis, saying “so much more needs to be done” in the UK and across Europe.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, told MPs and representatives of Catholic charities at Westminster that he appreciated the government’s initiative to bring Syrian refugees to the UK. “Yet progress is slow, but the plight of refugees cannot wait. People’s generosity, in my view, far outstrips the response of our government,” he added.
“So much more needs to be done both in welcoming refugees here and across Europe to make the response to this crisis both better organised and monitored, thereby becoming more respectful of the dignity of those seeking help. As a member of the EU we should be playing our full part in this effort in Europe.”
The British prime minister, David Cameron, has pledged to settle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the next five years, but has resisted taking a bigger share of the hundreds of thousands of people entering Europe, rejecting appeals from EU leaders that the refugee crisis must be dealt with collectively.
Nichols made particular reference to refugees camping near the French port of Calais as they wait to attempt entry to the UK. The conditions of the camp, he said, “dehumanise those living there and rob them of their dignity”.
Catholic charities were working hard to respond to the crisis, the archbishop said. “In our Catholic parishes all across the UK, and in other church communities and more generally, people have responded with enormous generosity. Pope Francis’s call to offer assistance and shelter to a migrant family has found an echo in many hearts.”
Nichols’s comments follow a stinging rebuke last month from Church of England bishops over the government’s “increasingly inadequate” response to the refugee crisis. And it comes just days after an international conference organised by the Catholic church heard that organised criminal gangs were preying on vulnerable refugees in order to exploit them for the sex trade and forced labour.
Nichols also praised Catholic charities that “act as a vital lifeline in protecting those faced with difficulties in simply feeding the family and holding onto home and heating”. He added: “We obviously now wait to see how the chancellor refashions his reforms of working tax credits so as not to have the impact on millions of families that was foreseen and provides mitigating action in the introduction of these changes.”
