Dear Friends,
Pope Leo takes Tuesday off from his busy schedule, but even on his day off, he fields questions from journalists and tourists who have gone out to Castel Gandolfo in hopes of a closer encounter with the Pope than is possible at the Vatican.
This past Tuesday, he was asked about an incident that happened in Chicago. On November 1st, All Saints Day, Auxiliary Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado celebrated Mass for hundreds of people gathered outside the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago. The bishop wanted to take communion to those being held at the ICE facility, but they were denied access. ICE said it was for “safety” reasons.
In response to the question, Pope Leo called on US authorities to consider and attend to the rights and especially the spiritual needs of immigrants under detention. “I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening,” Leo said. “Many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now,” the pontiff said. “The spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered, and I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people. Many times, they’ve been separated from their families for a good amount of time,” Leo continued, “no one knows what’s happening – but their own spiritual needs should be attended to.”
The Pope went on to say, “I think in the first place, the role of the Church is to preach the Gospel, it’s just a couple of days ago we heard Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 25. Jesus says very clearly: At the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?”
The present Administration promised to remove violent, undocumented people from the United States. However, the reality is that they are spending most of their time chasing down people whose only crime is that they used false papers to obtain a job in the US. These are people who have lived productive and positive lives with their families for ten years or more.
The last time a comprehensive immigration bill passed Congress was during the Reagan Administration. A new immigration bill has been needed for some time but has never been able to obtain support from both parties. In the meantime, innocent people are barred from legal entry into the US from countries where the quota has been reached. There are different quotas for each type of entry, i.e. children, spouses, brothers and sisters, etc. You can find the waiting times for all the categories and countries of origin online. When I checked today, the wait time for some categories from Mexico were from 20 to 68 years. Can you imagine? You want to move to the US to care for your mother who is ill and in need of help and the American Embassy says come back in 49 years. The line is that long in front of you. With that reality, you might try to figure out a way to come without permission.
The present law and system is not working for those people coming from poor, populous countries – Mexico, Philippines, China, India. The law needs to be improved. However, while we wait for leaders who have the courage to change the law, people are being detained by ICE and not given the opportunity for spiritual care. They need our prayers and support. Please let your elected officials know that you stand with Pope Leo and want them to receive spiritual care.
Peace,
Fr. Damian