“In each technology, those that have arrived in search of freedom, alternative and a spot to belong have helped to form the nation’s character,” the pontiff mentioned in his July 4 letter calling for the “welcoming” of immigrants
From the very founding of our nation, our leaders have proclaimed the USA a nation of immigrants. Pope Leo XIV, the primary U.S.-born pontiff, marked final weekend’s July 4 semiquincentennial celebrations by issuing a particular letter reminding us all to reside as much as these beliefs.
‘HELPED SHAPE THE NATION’S CHARACTER’
“Defending human life additionally consists of welcoming, defending and helping immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have fashioned a part of the historical past of this nation from its very starting,” he wrote. “In each technology, those that have arrived in search of freedom, alternative and a spot to belong have helped to form the nation’s character. To obtain them with compassion and generosity shouldn’t be solely an act of charity, but additionally a recognition of the dignity that belongs to each human individual.”
NEW: Pope Leo has written a letter to the US marking its 250th Anniversary; Leo writes: “Defending human life additionally consists of welcoming, defending, and helping immigrants.. “
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“Might this milestone renew the shared dedication to the promise of freedom, justice, alternative and democracy,” the pontiff continued. “Might People honor the braveness and imaginative and prescient of those that got here earlier than them by strengthening their communities, respecting their variations and dealing collectively towards a extra excellent union.”
‘I WANT TO BOW BEFORE YOUR DIGNITY’
Placing his plea for compassion into motion, Pope Leo traveled to the small Italian island of Lampedusa, the place he “laid a bouquet of white and yellow flowers on the merely marked graves of migrants drowned at sea,” The Washington Publish reported. “The Gospel resounds the place peoples meet, folks welcome each other, their lives intertwine and completely different cultures interact in dialogue,” he mentioned. “It falls silent, nevertheless, when every individual makes him or herself an island.”
Pope Leo’s go to to Lampedusa was the second consecutive month that he visited an island that’s the last vacation spot of one of the crucial harmful routes for African migrants in search of new lives in Europe. One cease throughout his week-long Spanish tour final month included a go to to the Canary Islands, the place he visited a migrant heart and listened to the heart-wrenching tales of migrants and trafficking victims.
“Pricey migrants, earlier than saying anything to you, I need to bow earlier than your dignity. You aren’t simply numbers or information. You might be individuals who have left behind households and houses. You may have goals that nobody has the correct to despise,” he mentioned, urging leaders to behave on “authorized and secure pathways, rescue and help, actual cooperation towards traffickers, efficient safety for victims, critical processes of reception and integration, and insurance policies that permit each individual to reside with dignity in their very own land.”
“Human dignity has no passport and doesn’t lose its worth when crossing a border.” – Pope Leo
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“We can not develop accustomed to counting the useless,” Leo continued. “Human dignity has no passport and doesn’t lose its worth when crossing a border.”
DEPORTATION AGENTS DETAIN A NUN
America’s contradictions on immigration had been on full show on July 4 and within the days resulting in the semiquincentennial. On June 28, Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja was detained by mass deportation brokers whereas on her solution to Sunday Mass in South Texas. Sister Letty, who’s initially from Nigeria, was in her behavior “when brokers stopped her close to the church, cuffed her and took her rosary,” Migrant Insider reported. “The detained nun additionally wanted medicine,” which “federal brokers didn’t permit her to get,” The Texas Tribune mentioned.
“Diocesan officers have confirmed solely that she entered the nation legally,” Migrant Insider continued. “They haven’t mentioned what triggered the cease, and neither has ICE. The diocese has already mentioned, on the file, that no matter protocol let brokers cuff a nun strolling to church must be rewritten.”
The confiscated rosary was not returned to Sister Letty when she was launched later that day, Migrant Insider mentioned. NBC Information shared footage of a visibly shaken Sister Letty being launched from ICE custody and embraced by Sister Norma Pimentel, a Catholic Charities chief. “She was very distraught and scared, and didn’t perceive what was occurring,” Sister Pimentel mentioned.
A GLIMMER OF HOPE, SWEARING ALLEGIANCE TO AMERICA
But within the days that adopted, 1000’s of immigrants raised their proper hand to be sworn in as Americans by the identical authorities that had simply hours earlier kidnapped a nun on her solution to church. These new People haven’t been immune from obstacles of their very own. The naturalization course of “has grow to be extra burdensome with longer waits, more durable citizenship testing requirements and excessive submitting charges,” The Guardian famous. “The obstacles and the continued aggressive immigration crackdown increase a query for folks eligible for naturalization: are they nonetheless welcome right here?”
As Pope Leo reminded in his July 4 letter to the U.S., not solely is welcoming the stranger consistent with our distinctive distinction as a nation of immigrants, it’s in our greatest pursuits, economically and past. “Nobody can single-handedly bear the load of the challenges the world is going through,” he acknowledged. “We want each other, and we have to work collectively in unity to confront the challenges that the world is going through in the present day.”
