Pope against Trump's deportations: It ‘begins badly and will end badly’
In a letter to the US bishops, the pontiff explicitly condemns the expulsion plan that “identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” He appeals to Catholics not to give in to “narratives that discriminate and cause unnecessary suffering”. For him, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests.” He warns that looking only at national identity “distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Vatican Press Office released a letter by Pope Francis addressed to the bishops of the United States, expressing his support for their efforts to protect the rights and dignity of migrants.
In it, the pontiff writes that, “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.”
Francis expressly calls the situation a "major crisis" that began with the Trump administration’s “initiation of a program of mass deportations", which is affecting as much migrants from Asia as those from Latin America.
In the letter, the pontiff recognises “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.”
However, “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.”
For the pope, “an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized.”
“[T]his development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”
“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!”
Everyone “is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation.”
In an explicit reference to Donald Trump's America First policy, the pontiff writes that, “worrying about personal, community or national identity easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.”
Pope Francis goes on to praise US bishops, “as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!
He also exhorts all the faithful of the Catholic Church and every person of good will “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.”
Finally, the pontiff calls on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Marian title dearest to the native peoples of the Americas, “to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation.
“May the ‘Virgen morena’, who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at enmity, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.”
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07/02/2019 17:28
19/06/2018 14:55
