Ahead of World Fisheries Day, observed annually on Nov. 21, the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has released a message calling the global community to look past commercial statistics and recognize the profound human dignity, deep-seated faith, and daily hardships of the world's fishers and their families.
Rooted in a tradition established globally in 1997, this year's Vatican message connects the historical struggles of maritime workers with timeless spiritual truths. Issued by the dicastery's new prefect, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, the text reflects on the Gospel account of the risen Lord waiting on the shores of Lake Tiberias, offering weary fishermen and women the invitation to "Come and have breakfast."
Smerilli uses this biblical imagery to remind the faithful that Christ is not indifferent to human toil but actively waits on the shores of everyday life, attentive to the exhaustion, anxieties, and concrete needs of those who labor upon the waters.
In the message, Smerilli stresses that the Church must cultivate a culture of encounter that translates spiritual closeness into tangible action.
First, she urges society to truly see the person behind the profession. Fishers are frequently reduced to mere cogs in the global commercial food industry, yet their lives involve immense sacrifice, isolation, and risk. This vision must explicitly encompass often-overlooked members of the fishing community, including the women who labor behind the scenes to process and market the catch, young people navigating an uncertain professional future in maritime trades, and migrant fishers who often face systemic exploitation far away from their homelands and support systems.
Building upon Christ's gesture of lighting a fire on the shore to comfort his disciples, in the message, the Vatican issues a passionate plea to protect life at sea and on the coast. This defense of human dignity requires practical safeguards: ensuring vessels are safe and seaworthy, guaranteeing fair wages and legal contracts, providing adequate times for proper rest, and maintaining a constant remembrance of those who have lost their lives or gone missing while harvesting the bounty of the sea.
Finally, the Vatican calls upon local Christian communities and the global Church to remain close to fishers through every phase of their lives — from the initial recruitment and departure to the eventual homecoming. No worker should be left to face isolation, workplace injury, psychological trauma, or the vulnerabilities tied to changing economic conditions alone, it says.
Concluding her message with a heartfelt prayer to Mary, Star of the Sea, Smerilli invokes divine protection and guidance, praying that humanity may learn to embrace one another with the same proactive, restorative love that Christ showed his disciples on the shores of Galilee.
