(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV’s constant promotion of pro-immigrant talking points is having what seems to be his intended effect.
Last Friday, a group of 43 Democrats in the House of Representatives who identify as Catholic issued a statement expressing “solidarity” with migrants.
Lead by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro – who has close ties with actual communist groups – the statement references Pope Leo himself.
“Pope Leo XIV in his first encyclical Dilexi Te writes ‘The Church, like a mother … knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community,’” the letter reads. “As Catholic Democrats in Congress, we are guided by a living Catholic tradition that affirms the dignity of every human life.”
It goes without saying that those who signed this letter are selectively invoking Church teaching to promote open borders. Some of the persons who added their names to it, including California’s Nancy Pelosi and Ted Lieu, have repeatedly voted for pro-abortion and pro-LGBT legislation for years. In fact, in 2021, Lieu called U.S. bishops “partisan hypocrites” and dared them to deny him Holy Communion over his support for left-wing legislation.
As to the merits of the letter’s arguments, they sound more like liberal talking points than Catholic social teaching. Among other things, the statement maintains that ICE agents “have failed” in their duty to abide by “justice and mercy” while enforcing border security. It also claims that Church teaching requires them to provide “meaningful opportunities for immigrants.” The statement said nothing about the duty to help actual citizens or the rights of native-born Americans.
The signatories also included a quotation made by Pope Francis in 2019 when he said the Church’s “response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration can be summed up in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate.”
READ: California bishops slam US immigration policies, claim ‘synodality’ can unite faithful on issue
It isn’t hard to think that this is precisely the sort of letter that liberal clergy in the U.S. have been hoping to see. After all, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, who was tapped to lead the USCCB’s “You Are Not Alone” initiative last year, is rabidly left-wing. Not only did he kneel during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020, in the days before the election he said he was “encouraged by the Biden campaign’s promises to address climate change” as well as his plan to “create a path to citizenship for the undocumented.”
Other clergy have been putting forward arguments found in the joint letter as well. During a virtual interreligious prayer call last month, New Jersey Cardinal Joseph Tobin urged listeners to oppose funding for ICE, which he called a “lawless” organization that is part of “the machinery of death.”
Tobin’s irresponsible remarks were echoed by Chicago’s Blase Cupich. During an appearance on far-left news program The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, Cupich touted the Archdiocese of Chicago’s efforts to “help undocumented people to make sure have access to legal services.” This is basically his way of admitting that he wants to help illegals circumvent the law.
Cupich then compared what is happening in Minnesota with the events of World War II. “The Holocaust didn’t begin when they opened concentration camps. It began with words,” he said.
Cupich’s ridiculous comparison was picked up by fellow pro-LGBT Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas. Taylor claimed in an op-ed that there are “many obvious parallels with the 1930s” that “should give us pause.”
According to a poll published by EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research on December 11, 54 percent of Catholic voters support the detention and deportation of unauthorized immigrants on a broad scale. Only 30 percent said they oppose it, while 17 percent were unsure.
Trump’s Catholic border czar Tom Homan accused the bishops of being negligent on the issue. “According to them, the message to the world is: if you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it,” he told EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo last year. “I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church.”
Homan is right to defend his policies. Not only is protecting a country’s common good via strict immigration policies in accord with Catholic social teaching, a majority of Catholic voters in the U.S. support such policies. If Democrats and liberal clergy think they have an edge on this issue for the upcoming midterms, they should think again.