Posted on 02/11/2025 8:43:50 AM PST by ebb tide
In a highly unusual move, Pope Francis has written to the Catholic bishops in the U.S. critiquing the “major crisis” of the Trump administration’s policies regarding illegal immigration and urging bishops to “work closely” with migrants.
Citing “these delicate moments that you are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America,” Pope Francis’ letter was sent to the entire U.S. episcopate and published without prior public notice.
Signed from Francis himself, the text appears as a direct rebuff to both President Donald Trump’s policies to tackle illegal immigration, and Vice-President JD Vance’s recent comments about the “ordo amoris.”
“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” said Francis.
Following his January 20 inauguration, Trump swiftly implemented measures to tackle the “border crisis,” efforts which are being spearheaded by his border czar Tom Homan.
In her first press conference, new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “all” of the illegal immigrants arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) are criminals “because they illegally broke our nation’s laws, and therefore, they are criminals as far as this administration goes.”
But Francis rejected this, while allowing for the principle of a nation to protect its “communities” from violent criminals:
The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.
The Pope attested that deporting individuals “damages the dignity of many men and women” if they had left their native country for “reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment.” He stated:
That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.
While defending the right of policies that regulate “orderly and legal migration,” Francis stated that “this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others.”
He also took direct aim at comments made by Vance about the “ordo amoris” or the firmly Catholic teaching about a hierarchy, or order of charity which starts with the family and spreads eventually to the wider world – a principle defended and outlined by the Greek philosophers and Catholic theologians such as Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
READ: JD Vance defends traditional Catholic teaching on immigration, sparking leftist outrage
Repeatedly referring to the “infinite dignity” of man, Francis appeared to suggest that based on this dignity all people should be loved with the same degree, and in the same way: thus defending his principle that the same dignity should be the principle behind having widely permissive immigration policies. He wrote:
Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!
The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf.Lk10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.
While Vance defended the principle of having charity for one’s family and neighbors before the wider community and world, Francis stated that “worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.”
He closed by urging the U.S. bishops to do more to support the cause of “migrants and refugees” by “proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights.”
Francis also addressed the wider U.S. church, exhorting Catholics “not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”
“With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all,” he said.
Francis’ letter comes in the backdrop of a broiling battle amongst even the U.S. episcopate over the issue of immigration. Many bishops, especially those most vocal on issues championed by Francis, have condemned Trump’s policy to tackle migrants crossing the borders illegally.
As a body, the USCCB has called the Trump administration’s immigration policy “deeply troubling.” A second official statement from Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, doubled down on the earlier criticism with more scathing language, asserting, “The use of sweeping generalizations … such as describing all undocumented immigrants as ‘criminals’ or ‘invaders … is an affront to God.”
READ: Bishop Strickland: We must not blame illegal immigrants for the sins of past governments
But Vance, Homan, and Catholic watchdog group Lepanto Institute have criticized the U.S. bishops for accepting millions of government money to fund programs that aid trafficking of migrants and lead to the trafficking of children. This has led to widespread condemnation of the USCCB’s immigration activities as being a channel which assists the trafficking of children across the border and leading to the separation of families.
READ: Trump border chief blasts Pope Francis’ hypocrisy on illegal immigration
A minority of bishops have resisted the condemnation of Trump’s border policies, with Arlington’s Bishop Michael Burbidge calling for a “common sense” approach which would see the U.S. government “develop a national immigration policy that reflects the Catholic commitment to human dignity and the common good.”
“Catholic teaching does not support an open border policy, but rather emphasizes a common sense approach where the duty to care for the stranger is practiced in harmony with the duty to care for the nation,” Burbidge wrote.
Francis has already criticized Trump’s stance against illegal immigration on a number of occasions, and described opposing migration as “a grave sin.”
With his signal support for all those in the political and ecclesial sphere who oppose Trump on the issue, Francis has ensured that the Vatican is now a part of the socio-political debate in the U.S., meaning that diplomatic relations could likely take a strain in the future.
Bergoglio delenda est
Francis is a bully.
SEND THEM ALL TO THE VATICAN
One freak can make you ashamed for ever being a Catholic.
Stay in your lane, Papa.
The Pope has NO say in our policies. PERIOD.
Stuff it Pope Che.Fema chief CFO just got fired.
Listening on YouTube….
Stick to your knitting, Pope!!!
Maybe JD should start sending these ILLEGAL INVADERS to VATICAN CITY!
ALL Illegal Immigrants coming through our Southern Border are victims of Human Trafficking, as nobody comes across without paying the Cartels.
Thus, Trump's border policies PROTECT against Human Trafficking.
The Vatican needs to get its story straight before arguing against our National Sovereignty!
Oh...and NOBODY is coming here to escape "Climate Change"!!!
Ship them to the Vatican.
Of course the anti-Christ would take this position
Wants to spread evil all over the world, that is his job
People I know have quit the Catholic church over his support for trannies and queers.
Get REAL....he’s NOT THE CHURCH! JESUS IS!!
The Pope should join his buddy Satan and go straight to Hell. This heretic should not be interfering in the politics of any nation. For all we know the Deep State via USAID or other illegal funding helped this clown get his Pope position.
It’s proven the Catholic hierarchy has more interest in making money than saving souls. This was obvious when they helped Nazi criminals escape justice. It’s obvious now when they have been found to help illegals enter our country.
Time to rescind the diplomatic status of the Vatican. It was done to get their help during the cold war, but they aren’t really a nation.
And in reality, if anyone without permission -dares- enter than 121 acre property that is the Catholic HQ, they are immediately arrested, detained and turned over to Italian law enforcement.
Just try to set up a camp inside.
Reconsider things when an actual Pope is in the Vatican and not this anti-Pope.
“...deporting individuals damages the dignity of many men and women.”. Does committing crimes in foreign countries damage the dignity of those same individuals? Can a pope be recalled by the bishops?
This guy obviously has a problem with the United States. Cut off the money starting with the collection plates.
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