JRS Europe Attends Conference Refugees & Migrants In Our Common Home

From the 1st to the 3rd of October 2025, JRS colleagues participated in the conference “Refugees & Migrants in Our Common Home”, sponsored by The Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration of Villanova University, at the Augustinian Patristic Pontifical Institute in Rome, Italy. The conference brought together more than 200 participants from academia, civil society and government from more than 40 Countries around the world to tackle the challenges of education for migrants and refugees and what schools and universities can do to facilitate solutions.

The event included support from several partners, including the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD), the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), the Foundation Augustinians Across the World, our own Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), the Scalabrinian International Migration Institute (SIMI), and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

During the conference, Viktoria Palamuk, a Ukrainian refugee, shared her powerful and inspiring testimony as she recounted her personal story of having to flee Ukraine for Poland and seek refuge in Lithuania. As a refugee continuing her studies, Viktoria has undertaken an internship with JRS. Listening to Viktoria, we realise the importance of the One Proposal.

Listening to Viktoria, we recognise the importance of One Proposal, a comprehensive, coordinated initiative by the Society of Jesus to respond to the Ukraine refugee crisis, providing services such as emergency aid, shelter, psychosocial support, education, and integration to those displaced by the conflict. Coordinated by Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Europe and the Xavier Network, it aims to ‘accompany, serve, and advocate’ for refugees and internally displaced persons from Ukraine and other nationalities affected by the war.

Describing the importance of education as a key element of social inclusion, Viktoria said:

“I continued my studies and stopped feeling like a refugee here. I was a student. And studying really healed me. I became deeply interested in international humanitarian law, refugee law, and human rights protection. At that moment, an inner transformation took place, and I realized that I wanted to help forcibly displaced people worldwide. Because I know what it’s like to be in a foreign country without knowledge of the laws, regulations and your rights, without money, and without knowing the local language, sometimes even without documents.”

Our regional director, Alberto Ares, made two presentations at this conference. First, he gave a talk entitled: ‘Hospitality: Love in Action’. Hospitality is “love in action,” rooted in vulnerability, gratitude, and personal encounter, transforming both host and guest. Drawing from Christian and Jesuit traditions, he argues that presence and relationship—rather than mere assistance—define genuine hospitality for migrants and refugees. Through community-based approaches, hospitality becomes a political and prophetic act opposing exclusion, fostering reciprocity, integration, and advocacy for justice. In today’s Europe, Ares calls for open hearts and hope-filled engagement, making hospitality a powerful witness to shared humanity.

The second contribution was the presentation of the ‘Paths of Hospitality’, an initiative whose aim is to develop a culture of solidarity and inclusion with people who are forced to migrate. To leave prejudice behind and build a fraternal culture of hope as well as encounters with other cultures.

Alejandro Olayo from Boston College, a great collaborator of JRS USA, and our regional director in Europe, convened a meeting during the Congress that brought together more than 20 researchers from various Jesuit universities and JRS leaders from around the world. We presented the work each of us was doing on the reality of migration and refuge, and expressed our desire to continue exploring possible collaborations.

Not only did JRS support refugee voices at the education conference, but we had colleagues join us from different parts of the world, JRS USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, as well as the International Office. It was a unique opportunity to bring together our expertise from various geographical regions. Many colleagues stayed on after the conference to participate in the Jubilee of Migrants the following weekend.