‘On the side of the poor’: Pope, U.S. bishops urge generous immigration policy

 

CNA Staff, Feb 19, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Both Pope Francis and numerous American bishops in recent weeks have called for more generous U.S. immigration policies, urging leaders and advocates to support laws and regulations that allow immigrants in the United States to remain here whenever possible.

In a Feb. 10 letter, Pope Francis urged the U.S. bishops to stay the course in their support for generous immigration policies and called on Catholics to consider the justness of immigration laws and policies in light of the dignity and rights of people.

The letter, which was widely seen as a rebuke to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s support for the mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants, argued that 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” places those same individuals “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 pope said.

Following the letter, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) thanked Pope Francis for his “prayerful support” and asked for the Holy Father to pray for the U.S. to improve its immigration system.

“Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all,” the archbishop wrote to the pope.

In an interview on Sunday with the Good Newsroom, meanwhile, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, said the pope’s letter was written in response to the “huge expulsions of people” taking place in the U.S.

“The pope heard the cry of the bishops and wanted to encourage them,” the cardinal said. “The pope is on the side of the bishops and on the side of the poor.”

‘All goods are universally destined’

Pope Francis has long made care and concern of immigrants and refugees a major part of his papacy, regularly calling on wealthy nations to extend sanctuary and resources to those driven out from their homelands or migrants seeking a better life.

Trump, meanwhile, has run his presidential campaigns with a hard-line immigration enforcement message, vowing to expel millions of recent immigrants who entered the country illegally or with invalid asylum claims, as well as through parole programs started under the previous administration.

The pope in his letter “recognize[d] 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.”

Yet he said that even “orderly and legal migration” should not supplant “the truth about the equal dignity of every human being.”

The pope’s remarks came amid a broader push among U.S. bishops for more favorable treatment of migrants. Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez wrote earlier this month that though nations have the “solemn duty” to control their borders, “border walls need doors, too.”

The archbishop responded in part to remarks from Vance in which the vice president suggested that U.S. bishops speaking out in support of migrants were “worried about their bottom line” instead of humanitarian concerns.

Gomez said the Catholic Church has been “a good partner” with the government in helping with immigration.

The Church “did not break the nation’s immigration system,” he said, “but every day we deal with the human damage caused by that broken system,” including migrants victimized by traffickers and those addicted by drugs that have crossed the southern border.

“We all agree that we don’t want undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals in our communities,” the archbishop said. But “we still need to fix the broken system that allowed them to cross our borders in the first place.”

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, similarly argued earlier this month that while the Catholic Church “does not have the authority or the responsibility to determine the legal status of those living in the United States,” it nevertheless has “an obligation to care for every person with respect and love, no matter their citizenship status.”

Praising the Trump administration for its commitment to deporting dangerous illegal immigrants, Naumann still argued that “the vast majority of those who entered our country illegally are not gang members, criminals, drug dealers, human traffickers, or terrorists posing a threat to our national security.”

“If President Trump is able to shut down the border successfully, making illegal entry into our country virtually impossible, does it not make more sense to create a pathway for the undocumented to be able to earn legal status?” he argued.

Advocacy has come from outside the U.S. as well. Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, earlier this month argued that immigrants are “a revelation of God’s active presence in history.”

Speaking to a group of theologians and pastors from the Americas on Feb. 7, the cardinal said Christians are “called to remember that all goods and resources are universally destined.”

“National security was ideologized and weaponized against the poor throughout the Americas,” he said. “For those of you who minister in the United States, I pray that your parishes and dioceses will be unafraid to walk with migrants.”

Many advocates and Catholic leaders have raised alarms over the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign assistance funds and grants, which the White House ordered last month in an effort to uproot left-wing initiatives in federally funded programs.

The U.S. bishops this week sued the Trump administration over that measure, arguing that it violated federal law and would leave millions of refugees without critical aid.

Other groups such as Catholic Charities have urged the Trump administration to reconsider the freeze, citing the “crucial care” the funding helps provide.

Multiple U.S. bishops, including prelates from Virginia, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, and elsewhere have spoken out in favor of migrants in recent weeks, calling for an immigration system that enforces just laws while extending mercy to vulnerable populations.

“We respect our borders and laws AND support immigration policy reforms and care for those who are already here, many already contributing members of our society for years. We do not see these ends as mutually exclusive,” Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin and Raleigh Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama wrote.

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago told Vatican News he “deeply appreciate[d]” Pope Francis’ “prophetic witness” in his letter to the U.S. bishops.

“I am grateful for his encouragement of bishops who have criticized mass indiscriminate deportations and the criminalization of immigrants,” the cardinal said, “as well as his challenge for all the bishops to walk together and defend the human dignity of the migrants in our country.”