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To: Theophane

Do you trust his judgement regarding open immigration and open borders, too?


4 posted on 02/18/2006 6:55:29 PM PST by sanormal
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To: sanormal

I readily confess that I have not followed his thinking on that.

On the general subject, it seems from what little I can remember having read, that Pope John Paul used to say at one time that free immigration was (or was akin to) a right of persons, inherent in their dignity as such, but then he would say in other contexts that each people have a right to their own culture, which for me is the crux of the immigration issue (money matters are more complex, but would seem ultimately to be solvable). It seems almost as if these two concepts are irreconcilable.

I have thought about this a little bit, however, and would venture the hypothesis that perhaps our late Holy Father was really thinking about immigration the way it was always done until the most recent times, whereby the immigrant was welcomed into the host country, but on the impicit understanding that the immigrant abandoned his allegiance to the old country, adopted an attitude of allegiance and patriotism as to the host country, AND adopted the language and customs of the host country. E.g Ruth and other immigrants in the Old Testament ("your people will be my people" etc.). Except of course in certain matters, the most important one being that a Catholic should not be compelled to foresake the Faith for a non-Catholic religion in a host country (and maybe this applies to religion in general).

Just a few thoughts, anyway.


5 posted on 02/19/2006 3:57:59 PM PST by Theophane
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