To assist pastoral planners and agents in the migrant ministry, the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC), in partnership with the Center for Migration Studies (CMS) and the Australian Catholic Migrants and Refugees Office (ACMRO), and with the support of the Philippine Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMI) and the United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCBS), decided to publish a collection of magisterial documents on migration titled, Caring for Migrants.

The compilation consists of selected documents from both the Universal and Local Magisterium. Some of them are reproduced in full, others are quoted as excerpts, According to their relevance to the migrant ministry, some documents are reproduced in full, and others are quoted as excerpts. The collection covers documents produced from 1952, the year of publication of Exsul Familia Nazarethana, up to 2006. The section dedicated to the Universal Magisterium introduces a selection of documents, which have been instrumental in shaping the pastoral care of migrants of the Catholic Church. Many of the pastoral programs implemented worldwide derive inspiration from these documents.

The selected documents were authored by popes (from Pius XII to Benedict XVI), the Vatican Council II, Vatican Congregations, Pontifical Councils and Commissions. They range from apostolic constitutions to messages, and they carry varying degrees of authority, from canonical rules to pastoral exhortations, but each one of them contributed to the development of the migrant ministry. The section on the Local Magisterium includes pastoral letters and official statements dealing directly with migration-related matters. These documents express the local ordinary Magisterium, which contextualizes the indications provided at the universal level. They are authored by Bishops’ Conferences and Episcopal Commissions in United States, Australia and Asia.

The geographical coverage of the selection was determined by the cooperation of the above mentioned institutions in realizing this project. There are four parts in this collection: the first part is dedicated to the Universal Magisterium, the second to the Magisterium in the United States, the third to the Magisteriun in Australia and the fourth to the Magisteriun in Asia. Each part is introduced by a commentary authored by selected scholars. An index of subjects is added at the end to facilitate the consultation of the documents.

Caring for Migrants is a CD-Rom with an easy interface for readers and researchers.