Catholic Official Calls for Urgent Creation of Migration Pastoral Ministry in São Tomé and Príncipe

São Tomé, 29 November, 2025 / 11:00 PM

The Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CEPAMI) has called for the urgent establishment of a Migration Pastoral Ministry in the Catholic Diocese of São Tomé e Príncipe to respond to rising deportations and the growing needs of returning migrants.

Speaking to ACI Africa on Thursday, November 27, Sr. Carla Luísa Frei Bamberg said CEPAMI’s weeklong training mission in São Tomé “revealed the urgency of forming a structured team capable of responding to migration challenges in an organized way, especially the reception of deported São Toméans and young people returning without support.”

“São Tomé urgently needs structures capable of accompanying those who return and giving dignity to those who arrive,” Sr. Carla told ACI Africa.

The proposal emerged during CEPAMI’s visit to the Diocese of São Tomé from 17–21 November. 

Sr. Carla explained that the island nation faces a “rapidly worsening migration reality. Deportations from the United States and Portugal are increasing, with many returnees arriving without documents, without support systems, and without any reintegration pathway.”

“The migratory reality demands a concrete, organized, and permanent response. The Migration Pastoral Ministry is being created precisely to fill this gap and create a path of human and Christian reception,” she said.

The Brazilian-born member of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians) said the lack of state or international structures to support migrants leaves a vacuum the Church feels morally obligated to address.

“In São Tomé, we found a great need for support. There are no state or international bodies accompanying migrants and returnees. The absence of reception structures is a national pain and a call for collective responsibility,” she said.

Sr. Carla said migration authorities who participated in the seminar warned that many returnees arrive undocumented and that no formal reception structure currently exists.

“With only 13 Parishes, the local Church is stretched thin amid immense pastoral and social needs,” she said.

CEPAMI is working with the Apostleship of the Sea on initiatives to support fishers and families of those who go missing at sea. 

“We left São Tomé with the group formed. Now our mission is to accompany, guide, and strengthen each step so that the pastoral ministry works and bears fruit,” the CEPAMI executive said.