Citing ‘these delicate moments that you are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America,’ Pope Francis’ letter was sent to the entire U.S. episcopate and published without prior public notice.
He also took direct aim at comments made by Vance about the ‘ordo amoris‘ or the firmly Catholic teaching about a hierarchy, or order of charity which starts with the family and spreads eventually to the wider world – a principle defended and outlined by the Greek philosophers and Catholic theologians such as Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
Repeatedly referring to the ‘infinite dignity’ of man, Francis appeared to suggest that based on this dignity all people should be loved with the same degree, and in the same way: thus defending his notion that the same dignity should be the principle behind having widely permissive immigration policies. He wrote:
‘Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. 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!’
While Vance defended the truly Catholic principle of having charity for one’s family and neighbors before the wider community and world, Francis stated that ‘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.’ [Emphasis added.]
Francis’ radical, anti-Catholic stance on immigration was seen in August last year when he called repelling migrants a mortal sin – which is a sin that leads to hell. He said:
It must be said clearly: There are those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants – to repel migrants. And this, when done with awareness and responsibility, is a grave sin.
In his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti Francis wrote:
The limits and borders of individual states cannot stand in the way of this.
And in his 2019 exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate Francis equated immigration with abortion as matters of top priority when voting, which is why he said he could not decide between Kamala Harris and Trump during the last election.
And to top it all off, Francis’ intent in this letter is made painfully clear by the new appointment of James Weisenburger as archbishop of Detroit, announced on the same day he releases this attack on Trump’s policy on immigration. Weisenburger is most controversial for his 2018 suggestion that border agents who are involved in preventing illegal immigration and its associated ills of child trafficking might receive “canonical penalties” usually used in “life issues” cases, which could include excommunication.
I’m going to do another video today to unpack for you in brief the actual teaching of the Church on immigration, but I wanted to end here with a legitimate way Francis could have expressed his concerns over what may be perceived as overreach – the Trump administration treating all illegals as criminals regardless of their actions or situations.
If Francis were at all diplomatic in his approach, if he could for a moment overcome his Trump Derangement Syndrome, perhaps he’d get a lot further.
The perfect example of this approach comes from the very U.S. bishop Francis banished from the Diocese of Tyler – Bishop Joseph Strickland. Strickland did what Francis failed to do, and that was to give praise where praise is due. He commended Trump on his good actions and cautioned about the potential excesses.
It is right and just that nations protect their borders and their citizens, and it is right and just that illegal immigrants who fled their own country as convicted criminals, and those who have committed violent crimes while in our nation, and those who came to plot against our government be returned to their homeland.
Bishop Strickland then called out the party truly at fault for the illegal immigration crisis – THE BIDEN ADMIN – which was NOT criticized by Francis for the mess they caused.
Bishop Strickland explained:
What particularly complicates the illegal immigration problem that the U.S. now faces is that our government for many years has ignored the law and has virtually rolled out a red carpet for immigrants to enter illegally, providing free phones, food, clothing, housing, health care, and education – more than our own homeless citizens and troubled veterans have received. Moreover, some of these who have entered illegally fill jobs that our own citizens needed to survive. This puts us in the uncomfortable situation of having to decide how to correct a situation that our own government caused without causing undue harm to those who were facilitated in entering illegally by our own government.
Bishop Strickland said that we must come clean on owning up to the Biden administration’s failures and not take it out on the poor illegals that were pawns in Biden’s schemes:
This situation came about because our own government failed to perform some of its fundamental duties – it has not protected its own citizens, it has not used humane methods to separate those who were fleeing persecution and those who wished our country harm, and it has allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrant children to disappear – many of whom were trafficked to get here and are trafficked once they arrive.
Bishop Strickland also praises Trump for deporting dangerous criminals:
It seems that, up to this point, our government is concentrating on deporting criminals, many of whom had already been slated for deportation but had been permitted to remain. The present administration is to be commended for performing these basic duties of a government.
And then after the praise and commendation he urges caution and mercy:
Although we stand in appreciation of this administration for trying to ‘right wrongs’ that have previously occurred by returning us to law and order, we must also consider that in many cases we are impacting people who have been lied to and told that here in this country they would be welcomed and would find refuge. Therefore, we must be careful not to condemn them simply because they believed our own government’s lies.
He then presents a number of crucial questions that Americans must ponder deeply:
At this point, then, we must ask – is it just and humane to send home even those who have entered due to persecution or desperate situations at home, and who have found jobs and are paying taxes and are contributing to our country? This is not an ‘easy fix’ because, although they have entered ‘illegally,’ they were welcomed into this country with the blessing of our own government. Is it right then at this point to send them back without even exporting the goods they have worked to obtain? We as a country need to have a discussion about what humane and decent treatment of these fellow human beings looks like when put into action.
And as is typical of saints, Bishop Strickland turns it to God in prayer and this is a perfect way to end this report – won’t you pray with me Bishop Strickland’s prayer regarding this complex situation:
Loving, Merciful Father, we pray for all the immigrants who are being deported from this country. We pray for the swift deportation of criminals and terrorists, for their conversion, and for the safety of the citizens in the countries to which they return. We also pray that our government will treat justly people who came through ‘open borders’ and who, therefore, believed they were welcome here. We pray that our government leaders respect the laws of this nation but also that the innocent not suffer for the wrong-doing of lawless leaders. We pray for wisdom for those who must make decisions about these ‘illegal’ immigrants who have become a part of the fabric of our country, whom we have come to love as neighbors and co-workers. May these beloved sons and daughters of God be treated with compassion.