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LAST WORD: Last week, I lamented the fact that Pope Francis — recently deceased — never saw fit to call me, despite the standing policy at the Independent that I be interrupted should he ever do so. I concluded the column with a quasi woo-woo expression of openness to a call from the grave or the Great Beyond, whichever was more convenient. I can’t say I got exactly either, but what I got this past weekend was as close to one as is humanly possible. You might describe it as the spiritual equivalent of secondhand smoke.
Since I am out of town for a few days, I thought it would work for me to quote the letter the pope wrote to the American bishops this February entirely on the subject of immigration and the mass deportations. The last time I quoted anything in its entirety, it was an article published by the News-Press for which I and this newspaper were sued by Wendy P. McCaw, then the paper’s owner. Let’s hope the same does not happen again. I think the pope will cut me some slack.
I should acknowledge that I got a few comments last week from people of the more left/progressive persuasion that I gave the pope too much of a pass on all the changes to the church he never made.
From the more conservative side of the aisle, some wondered when I was going to lionize the pope for his traditional, status quo position that men were men, women were women, and marriage a holy bond strictly between the two. I was being selective, they objected, picking and choosing only the things I liked and ignoring the ones that I didn’t. To them, I plead guilty as charged. Have they never heard the expression “cafeteria Catholic?” For the record, this is the first time the column has been written by a dead person, thus giving new and fresh meaning to the expression “writing under deadline.”
What I particularly appreciate is how the pope situates the debate about immigrants and deportation within the context of a reality we rarely acknowledge; we live in the midst of one of the great mass migrations in human history. People all over the globe are fleeing hellacious poverty, hellacious starvation, and hellacious persecution. The pope does not make the case that the United States needs to maintain open borders for all. Instead, he makes the simple case that people fleeing these hellacious conditions should not be regarded and persecuted as criminals. And without mentioning Vice President JD Vance by name, the pope understatedly schools Vance on the true meaning of a church doctrine — ordo amoris — that Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, had cited in an effort to give theological justification to the policy of mass deportations.
For the record, I highlighted the bold-faced passages.
I hope I am not being too preachy here. That’s not my style. But I heard somewhere that desperate times call for desperate measures.
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
I am writing today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.
- The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel travelled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.
- These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emanuel; he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the ‘Magna Carta’ on the Church’s thinking on migration:
“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Jospeh, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example, and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family, and dear friends for foreign lands.”
- Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of ‘infinite and transcendent dignity’ we wish to emphasize the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other judicial consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.
- I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgement 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. 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.
- This is not a minor issue; an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes, and integrates the most fragile, unprotected, and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this 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 basis of truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.
- Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other individuals 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 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’ that is by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.
- But 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.
- I recognize your efforts, dear brother bishops in the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental 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!
- I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women 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.
- Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe 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.
Fraternally,
Francis
