(May 4th 2016) Seven days of exchange, new acquaintances and meetings: seeds are sown for small and large partnerships. It was an intense week for the Migrantes Foundation delegation in Argentina whose pastoral visit ended just yesterday. It is now the time for budgeting and reflection. The journey began from a meeting with the coordinators of the Argentine Catholic Commission Foundation (FCCAM) which immediately led the delegation to the heart of the issue of the comparison between Italian and Argentinian migratory flows of today and in the past in the international economic and political framework. The link with the Italian tradition, the strong devotion in a land of emigration, religion, the international influenc of Pope Francis with his actions warmly welcomed, were at the centrepiece of institutional meeting with the Apostolic Nuncio in Argentina, S.E. Msgr. Emil Paul Tscherring, His Eminence Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and primary S.E. Bishop Carlos Malfa, member of the Permanent Commission of Conference of Bishops in Argentina. The rich and fruitful encounter at the Italian Embassy with Ambassador S.E. Teresa Castaldo with the presence of the Consul General Dr. Riccardo Smimmo, director of the Italian Cultural Institute Professor Maria Mazza, the Embassy Counsellor Dr. Martin Lorenzini whose central theme was Italy’s new mobility has linked to a reception that is still alive in nation who has always been a receptive one. Evocative and participatory presentations of the “Report on Italians in the World” by the Migrantes Foundation in Buenos Aires (Institute for Culture and Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina) a University where students had the opportunity to ask different questions to Italian guests. A particularly interesting and fruitful confrontation between a distant reality that is at the same time culturally very close.
