Border bishops issue statement on immigration
February 23, 2017
Twenty bishops from Texas and northern Mexico met at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle in San Juan, Texas, and issued a 19-point statement on immigration.
In the statement, entitled “the cry of Christ in the voice of the migrant moves us,” the bishops said that “as a Church, we reiterate our commitment to care for pilgrims, strangers, exiles, and migrants, affirming that all persons have a right to live in conditions worthy of human life.”
“If these are not given, they have a right to migrate (Pope Pius XII), and we pledge ourselves as bishops, members of two different Episcopal Conferences, to walk with and care for the suffering of our migrant brothers and sisters,” the prelates added.
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Further information:
- Bishops along Northern Mexico and Texas Border Issue Statement on Immigration (USCCB)
- Full text of statement
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Posted by: kwonbbl1 -
Mar. 08, 2017 2:59 PM ET USA
There is no such thing as 'right to immigrate'. There is no duty that any nation to accept anyone who wish to migrate in.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Feb. 23, 2017 11:16 AM ET USA
"If these are not given." What is that supposed to mean? Is the state now to be considered by Churchmen to be all powerful, a rewarder of benefits and punishments? Or perhaps the statement is referring to slave owners, warlords, strongmen, or corporate systems that behave as slavemasters, conferring benefits and punishments according to human standards. Or maybe it refers to dictatorships wedded to religious (or irreligious) systems that truly enslave their followers through spurious revelations
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Posted by: feedback -
Feb. 23, 2017 8:23 AM ET USA
The "right to migrate" does not mean running at night through unsecured border and staying in another country illegally. And it does not mean the right to commit violent crimes in another country.
