Faced with US President Donald Trump’s insistence on a plan of mass deportations, Pope Francis has published a letter chastising the policy and calling faithful and politicians alike to care for the poor and those whose dignity is threatened. Source: Crux.
In a 10-point letter to US bishops, dated February 10 and published yesterday, Pope Francis said the current socio-political climate is clearly “marked by the phenomenon of migration”.
He called the global reality “a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person”.
Alluding to the journey “from slavery to freedom” of the people of Israel in the biblical book of Exodus, the Pope said that a basic examination of the Church’s social doctrine “emphatically” shows that Jesus “did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life.”
Pope Francis insisted that Jesus’s example is one of universal love and is an education in how to recognise the dignity “of every human being, without exception”.
In a direct rebuke of the Trump administration’s controversial mass deportation policy, he said that human dignity is one that “surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society”.
“Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of goodwill are called upon 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,” he said.
Referring to the mass deportation plans, he said he has been following the situation closely and argued that no decision can be made in good conscience to agree with the plan.
He acknowledged the right of every country to defend itself and keep its various communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes, but insisted that deportation of those who have not committed any crimes and who left their homes to escape poverty, exploitation, or persecution, makes them especially vulnerable and defenceless.
“This is not a minor issue,” he said, saying an authentic and true rule of law “is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalised.”
FULL STORY
Pope Francis chastises Trump administration for mass deportation plan (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
