[🇮🇹 Italian version] On Monday, 10 February, Pope Francis sent a letter to the bishops of the United States of America regarding the migration phenomenon. After replacing half of the American bishops and intimidating all those appointed by Benedict XVI, Pope Francis once again intervenes on a subject dear to the newspapers, fuelling the already terrible climate between the White House and the Holy See. Even in these matters - political but also ethical-moral - the Pontiff is meddling despotically in what is a matter that the local bishops should deal with in full autonomy. The one who calls himself ‘bishop of Rome’ increasingly shows that he intervenes in the government of other brother bishops who no longer have the freedom to act but are ‘managing directors’ and therefore for the most important matters he must intervene.
It is emblematic that the Pope never picked up pen and paper to write to the US bishops when Joe Biden, recently officially ascribed to Freemasonry, asserted pro-abortion and euthanasia theories. Are these issues less important to people's lives and to society itself?
In his letter, Francis speaks of an immigrant Jesus without taking into account that politics today must address this real problem with policies that take into account multiple aspects. The Pope uses Holy Scripture, even distorting its historical truth, to use it politically.
Benedict XVI, who did not want to please anyone but was aware of reality, wrote in 2012: «In the current social and political context, however, even before the right to migrate, there is need to reaffirm the right not to emigrate, that is, to remain in one’s homeland; as John Paul II stated: “It is a basic human right to live in one’s own country. However this rights become effective only if the factors that urge people to emigrate are constantly kept under control”. Today in fact we can see that many migrations are the result of economic instability, the lack of essential goods, natural disasters, wars and social unrest. Instead of a pilgrimage filled with trust, faith and hope, migration then becomes an ordeal undertaken for the sake of survival, where men and women appear more as victims than as agents responsible for the decision to migrate. As a result, while some migrants attain a satisfactory social status and a dignified level of life through proper integration into their new social setting, many others are living at the margins, frequently exploited and deprived of their fundamental rights, or engaged in forms of behaviour harmful to their host society. The process of integration entails rights and duties, attention and concern for the dignified existence of migrants; it also calls for attention on the part of migrants to the values offered by the society to which they now belong»
Why does the Pope not write a letter to those in power who enslave people and torture them? Why does he not raise his voice against those who force these people to emigrate? The problem is another and it is obvious, before everyone's eyes: someone is making money on the skin of these people.
Pope Francis states: «That said, 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».
It is true that the Pope here acts contra legem without anyone rising up, and even at the universal level in the Church he acts in the same way, but someone should explain to him that in all states there is a law that makes it a crime to enter and stay illegally in the territory of the state.
This also happens here in the Vatican. This is Decree No. DCCX on illegal entry into the territory of the Vatican City State approved two months ago. This text, desired by Alessandro Diddi and first passed by Santa Marta, provides: «Without prejudice to the provisions of other regulatory provisions, any non-resident or citizen who enters the territory of Vatican City State where free access is not permitted, without holding the required permit issued by the Governorate in accordance with articles 9 et seq. of the Law on Citizenship, Residence and Access No. CXXXI, of 22 February 2011, or after the same is revoked is subject to the administrative fine of payment of a sum of between €10,000.00 and €25,000.00» and «Unless the act constitutes a more serious offence, a term of imprisonment of one year to four years and a fine of between €10,000.00 and €25,000.00 shall be imposed on anyone who enters Vatican City State territory by means of violence, threats or deception». Donald Trump is doing nothing more than applying the existing law, as he is not an absolute monarch and cannot do things contrary to the law as Pope Francis does every day by changing the rules or applying them only when it comes to enemies.
Then, the Pope continues: «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. 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». Certainly, coming from a man who has punished numerous priests without even allowing them to know the charges for which they were punished makes one shudder. The man who sanctioned Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne without giving him a trial and without showing him evidence of the charges; the man who sentenced Cardinal Becciu before his trial and signed acts that changed the criminal procedure in the process, now explains to the President of the United States what a rule of law is.
d.L.C.
Silere non possum
Translation from Italian by Geremy L.
Letter of the Holy Father to the Bishops of the United States of America
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
I am writing today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that you are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.
1. The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.[1]
2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (cf.Mt1:23); he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration: “The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”[2]
3. Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will 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.
4. I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, 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.
5. 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. 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. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. 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.
6. 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! 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. The trueordo amoristhat must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf.Lk10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.[3]
7. But 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.
8. I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!
9. I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.
10. Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation. May the “Virgen morena”, who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at enmity, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.
Fraternally,
Francis
From the Vatican, 10 February 2025
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[1]Cf. DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, DeclarationDignitas infinitaon human dignity, 2 April 2024.
[2]PIUS XII, Apostolic ConstitutionExsul Familia, 1 August 1952: “Exsul Familia Nazarethana Iesus, Maria, Ioseph, cum ad Aegyptum emigrans tum in Aegypto profuga impii regis iram aufugiens, typus, exemplar et praesidium exstat omnium quorumlibet temporum et locorum emigrantium, peregrinorum ac profugorum omne genus, qui, vel metu persecutionum vel egestate compulsi, patrium locum suavesque parentes et propinquos ac dulces amicos derelinquere coguntur et aliena petere.”
[3] Cf. FRANCIS, Encyclical LetterFratelli tutti, 3 October 2020.