By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency
Editor’s note: Diocese of Evansville Bishop Joseph M. Siegel contributed to this report.
Pope Francis recently addressed the bishops of the United States regarding the country’s threatened mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants.
In reflecting on the papal message, Diocese of Evansville Bishop Joseph M. Siegel said that like Pope Francis and many other American bishops he emphasized that the debate about immigration laws, enforcement and much needed reform must consider first and foremost the protection of human life and dignity.
“I know from our clergy and others who serve our immigrant population that these new policies have been a source of great pain, confusion and anxiety,” the Bishop said. “While there is certainly a need to remove violent criminal migrants, there is legitimate fear that the deportations will one day engulf the undocumented who have lived and worked in our communities for many years. It is also concerning that churches, schools and hospitals are no longer considered protected areas.”
Bishop Siegel further noted that as a diocese, we are committed to supporting impacted communities as the implications of these actions are clarified.
“We are working to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters during these uncertain times,” he said. “While observing immigration laws and requirements, our offices and agencies are working closely with parishes and community groups to provide information and guidance as facts become available.”
The Bishop concluded his remarks with a call for prayer. “I ask all to pray for those impacted by the policy changes. As well, let us pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire and guide those entrusted with the responsibility to form and enforce immigration laws, that they may do so in a way that is rooted in charity, justice and fairness.”
In the Pope’s comments contained in a letter published Feb. 11, he wrote, “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.” While supporting a nation’s right to defend itself from people who have committed violent or serious crimes — he said a “rightly formed conscience” would disagree with associating the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.
“All the Christian faithful and people of goodwill,” the pontiff continued, “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.”
‘Respectful of the dignity of all’
Pope Francis penned the letter to U.S. bishops amid changes to U.S. immigration policy under
President Donald Trump’s administration, including the increased deportation of migrants, which numerous bishops have criticized.
The pope’s letter recognized the “valuable efforts” of the U.S. bishops in their work with migrants and refugees and invoked God’s reward for their “protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!”
Asking Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect all those living in fear or pain due to immigration and deportation, he prayed for a society that is more “fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all” and exhorted Catholics and other people of goodwill “not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”
Francis emphasized that immigration laws and policies should be subordinated to the dignified treatment of people, especially the most vulnerable.
“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,” he underlined. “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.”
He said the just treatment of immigrants does not impede the development of policies to regulate orderly and legal migration, but “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.”
The ‘ordo amoris’
In his letter, Pope Francis also weighed in on the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris” — “rightly ordered love” — which was recently invoked by Vice President JD Vance in the ongoing debate over immigration policy.
“Christian love,” the pope wrote, “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!”
“The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation,” he continued.
“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted,” the pontiff wrote, “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.”
Jesus the refugee
“The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration,” the pope wrote.
Francis pointed out the social doctrine of the Church, that even Jesus Christ experienced the difficulty of leaving his own land because of a risk to his life and of taking refuge in a foreign society and culture.
“Likewise,” Pope Francis commented, “Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.”