Nichols on Syrian refugees: Government should keep welcoming 'victim' refugees

Britain should not be deterred from welcoming refugees despite the terror attacks in Paris last week and Mali last Friday, say the Bishops of England and Wales.

In a statement following their plenary meeting last week, the bishops called on the Government to speed up its programme to resettle 20,000 refugees in Britain.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said greater vigilance was needed in monitoring refugees coming into Europe but that it was wrong to conflate the Paris attacks with the plight of people who are desperate and seeking shelter from terrible violence.

“The vast majority of refugees are victims of violence not perpetrators,” said Cardinal Nichols at a press conference last Friday.

The bishops’ statement urges the Government to give priority to its Vulnerable Persons’ Relocation Scheme over the next 18 months. The Government has said the scheme would resettle 20,000 people over the next five years.

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“This compassionate programme could realistically be extended to more of the millions of displaced people. The barbarous attacks in Paris last week should not deter us from caring for those in need,” they wrote.

Cardinal Nichols said that offers of help from Catholic dioceses with resettling refugees are on the table.

He said it was likely that most of the refugees arriving under the scheme would probably be Muslim but he suggested the Government should consult with Christian migrant families in Britain to identify relatives who are refugees.