From 24 to 27 March 2025 in El Paso, Texas, Cardinal Fabio Baggio CS participated on behalf of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in a regional meeting on migration pastoral care at the invitation of the Bishop of El Paso, the Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz. The gathering was facilitated by the Hope Border Institute.
The meeting, entitled Lo vió, se acercó y lo cuidó (He saw him, approached him and took care of him), provided a unique opportunity to share pastoral challenges and responses, and to identify areas of collaboration between Church representatives of the US, Mexico and Canada.
Participating in the meeting were Most Rev. Mark Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and chairman of the Committee on Migration of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Most Rev. Eugenio Lira Rugarcía, Bishop of Matamoros and delegate of the Mexican Bishops' Conference for the pastoral care of migration, Most Rev. Mgr. Noël Simard, Bishop Emeritus of Valleyfield, representative of the Canadian Bishops' Conference, the directors of the national migration pastoral offices, some religious men and women and lay people involved in migration pastoral ministry in the three countries.
The purpose of the meeting was to reflect together on the new challenges posed by recent migration flows and to deepen regional collaboration between the Church in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, to improve and coordinate the Church’s response to effectively accompany vulnerable people on the move.
The point of departure for the meeting was the recent pastoral letter by the bishops representing the Bishops' Conferences of North America, Mexico, and Central America: He saw him, approached him, and cared for him.
The working sessions were combined with visits to places of special significance. On Monday morning, 24 March, the participants visited one of the migrant centres in Paso and Car. Baggio presided over the Eucharist celebrating the feast of Saint Oscar A. Romero, Archbishop martyr of El Salvador. In the late afternoon, the same participants took part in an interdenominational/ interfaith prayer, led by Bishop Seitz, in memory of Archbishop Romero and all the victims of migration routes.
On Tuesday 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation, the participants walked a small part of the route that migrants take through the desert. Rev. Eugenio Lira Rugarcía presided over the Eucharistic celebration almost on the border with Mexico on a stone altar built by the people. The Holy Mass was celebrated in memory of the migrants who died crossing the desert.
On Wednesday 26 March, Cardinal Baggio was invited to contribute to the assembly proceedings with a reflection on the importance of inter-ecclesial collaboration to ensure adequate accompaniment and concrete solidarity to migrant brothers and sisters in the face of new global challenges.
Cardinal Baggio's mission ended on Thursday 27 March with a Eucharistic celebration in the Cathedral of Ciudad Juárez in memory of the 40 victims of the fire at the migrant station on 27 March 2023. The prelate then visited the migrant house in Ciudad Juárez and had lunch with the migrant families housed there.
