Posts Tagged “Mediterranean Hope”

Italian church launches Welcome Manifesto

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Italian church launches Welcome Manifesto

The board of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) recently launched a Welcome Manifesto [view in translation] that says ‘no’ to xenophobia and describes every form of racism as a theological heresy. FCEI President Luca Maria Negro spoke about what had triggered the development and launch of the principles. “For months we have heard…

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Report on a CTBI return trip to Italy

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Report on a CTBI return trip to Italy

CTBI’s Christine Elliott visited Italy with Bala Gnanapragasam (who is now vice president of the Methodist Church in Britain) between 17 and 21 April 2018. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But, conscience asks the question, is it right? Martin…

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Italian judge frees NGO Proactiva’s Open Arms vessel

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Italian judge frees NGO Proactiva’s Open Arms vessel

The Preliminary Investigative Judge of Ragusa, Giovanni Giampiccolo, has ordered the release of the Open Arms, a ship operated by the Spanish NGO Proactiva. According to a Reuters report that had visibility of the court order, “the rescue on March 15 of 218 migrants off the Libyan coast by humanitarian group Proactiva Open Arms was…

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Mediterranean Hope: new sea rescue collaboration by Italian churches

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Mediterranean Hope: new sea rescue collaboration by Italian churches

The Council of the FCEI (the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy) has agreed to expand the work of their refugee and migrant programme Mediterranean Hope with a new strand of activity that will support organisations that undertake this humanitarian work and participate in search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea. A team from…

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Lampedusa Ecumenical Statement

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Lampedusa Ecumenical Statement

The organisations which arranged the “Living and witnessing the border” conference in Palermo and Lampedusa issued a joint statement which emphasised the gospel imperatives to welcome, protect and nourish. CTBI’s Christine Elliott attended the conference and will post her reflections on the event which coincided with the fourth anniversary of the 3 October 2013 loss…

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Meet Luca Maria Negro

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Meet Luca Maria Negro

CTBI’s Christine Elliott recently returned from a fact-finding visit to projects in Rome. Over the coming week’s she’ll be blogging about her encounters. Meet Luca Maria Negro, the President of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI). The FCEI set up the work of Mediterranean Hope in 2013 following the ghastly situation on 3…

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Humanitarian Corridors – safe and legal access to Europe

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Humanitarian Corridors – safe and legal access to Europe

CTBI’s Christine Elliott recently returned from a fact-finding visit to projects in Rome. Over the coming week’s she’ll be blogging about her encounters. Giulia Gori promotes the work of Humanitarian Corridors. This magnificent collaboration between the Italian Government departments of foreign and internal affairs and the Christian groups Mediterranean Hope, Community of Sant’Egidio and Tavola…

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“Human life has no value there”

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“Human life has no value there”

Damian Jackson is programme officer for the Irish Council of Churches and co-led the recent CTBI delegation to visit refugee projects in Italy. He wrote the lead article for this week’s Church of Ireland Gazette. An abbreviated version of his article is reproduced below. “Human life has no value there.” Emmanuel was telling me of his…

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Reflections from CTBI group who visited Mediterranean Hope refugee projects in Lampedusa & Sicily

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Reflections from CTBI group who visited Mediterranean Hope refugee projects in Lampedusa & Sicily

A short video captures reflections of some of the group who spent time with Mediterranean Hope projects in Lampedusa and Sicily in April 2017. The visit was organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.  You can read more about the visit on this Focus on Refugees website.

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Humanitarian corridors – addressing extreme danger faced by refugees

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Humanitarian corridors – addressing extreme danger faced by refugees

Damian Jackson is programme officer at the Irish Council of Churches and co-led the team of young men on CTBI’s recent visit to refugee projects on Sicily and Lampedusa. He writes today on the Irish Council of Churches’ blog about the visit whose purpose was “to gain an understanding of the situation faced by people…

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