Jesuit general: Trump immigration policies violate American, Christian values
March 09, 2017
President Donald Trump’s plans to stop illegal immigration into the US are “against the roots of American society, and let’s say, humanity,” according to the superior general of the Jesuit order.
Father Arturo Sosa told the ANSA news agency that Trump’s policies violate “the values of the Americans and of Christians.”
In Europe, too, a policy of building walls to bar immigrants is “inhumane,” the Jesuit leader said. He argued that barriers are also useless, since desperate immigrants find ways to enter countries despite security measures—“there are so many holes in any wall you put up.”
Father Sosa went on to tell ANSA that “trying to identify Islam with terrorism is madness.”
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Posted by: R. Spanier (Catholic Canadian) -
Mar. 10, 2017 11:48 PM ET USA
"to identify Islam with terrorism is madness." Is the extraordinarily high percentage of Muslims in Islamic countries an authentic exercise of peoples' God-given free will ? e.g. Saudi Arabia, 100%, Turkey, 99.8%, Afghanistan, 99.7 % , Iran, 99.4%, Iraq, 99%, Pakistan, 96.4%. "If they left apostasy (rida) alone, there wouldn't have been any Islam. Islam would have been finished right after the death of the Prophet (pbuh), therefore by confronting apostasy Islam was preserved." Yusuf al-Qaradawi
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Posted by: feedback -
Mar. 10, 2017 8:06 AM ET USA
Fr. Sosa calls for the separation of religion from terrorism. But it doesn't help his cause when the terrorists go to mosques to "radicalize themselves," shout "Allahu Akbar!" while committing their crime, and receive a traditional Islamic burial after being killed.
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Posted by: Travelling -
Mar. 10, 2017 6:51 AM ET USA
It is appropriate for a state to limit immigration and to set legal standards for it. That is within the state's remit. Having a border control is also fine. How it is done is open to discussion and there is no definitive solution. This is church interfering in state.
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Posted by: Lucius49 -
Mar. 09, 2017 8:16 PM ET USA
Pres Trump cites radical Islam. Get it right Fr. Sosa.Stopping illegal immigration is against American society when it's a violation of its own laws? Does this apply to all other countries or just the US? Fr. Sosa ignores one of the key teachings of Catholic social teaching regarding governments: their obligation to provide for the common good. No country has to accept all immigrants. Not all immigrants are refugees. It's up to a gov't to "discern" (a key word for Fr. Sosa) immigration policy.
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Posted by: skall391825 -
Mar. 09, 2017 6:26 PM ET USA
"Father Sosa went on to tell ANSA that 'trying to identify Islam with terrorism is madness'.” Right, it's like trying to identify the Jesuits with homosexualism. But then....
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Posted by: Jim Hanink -
Mar. 09, 2017 6:13 PM ET USA
The superior general may well be right. Yet on matters of this sort there might also be room for further discernment.
