"I lived with them for many years, met with them regularly, and based on that experience I will say simply: there is nothing to be afraid of", Krajewski told Poland's PAP news agency.
The cardinal, who previously served as the Vatican's papal almoner, said he encountered refugees "on every street" during his years in Rome. He argued that human migration is a historically normal phenomenon driven by the absence of water, work or peace.
Addressing Poland's own history, he drew a pointed comparison: "When Poland was at war, under communism, or facing unemployment, we fled to America. Today Poland is a wealthy country, but twenty million Poles still live beyond its borders. Does the world fear Poles because they are descendants of refugees?"
"I think that frightening people about refugees is a purely political matter with some hidden agenda. One must open one's eyes and see that their presence brings not only risks but can be a blessing for our country", he said.
Krajewski praised Poland's initial response to Ukrainian refugees at the outbreak of the war, recalling that the spontaneous welcome — offered by ordinary families rather than institutions — had astonished Europe. He acknowledged that fatigue had since set in, along with complaints about pressure on healthcare and public finances, but noted that the media largely overlooked the fact that most Ukrainians who came to Poland had found work and were contributing to the state budget.
On the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the cardinal, who said he had visited Ukraine ten times since the conflict began, was blunt about what he saw as the underlying dynamic.
"A thousand soldiers die in Ukraine every day, plus civilian casualties. How is it possible that we are not stopping this war? How is it possible that children are dying of hunger in Gaza before the eyes of the world? The answer is simple: nobody wants to stop the war because everyone profits from it. Countries produce weapons that must then be sold to someone. High politics is cruel — it knows no mercy, no forgiveness. It is a cold calculation of gains and losses", he said.
Krajewski closed by citing Pope Leo XIV's words that lasting peace begins within each individual. "If we have no inner peace, if it is absent in our families and our cities, it spills out into the entire world", he said. "We have the means to stop wars — but we do not use them".
(jh)
Source: PAP