Blog Mirror: Sisters of Charity of New York Respond to Cardinal Dolan’s Remarks on Charlie Kirk

 

Sisters of Charity of New York Respond to Cardinal Dolan’s Remarks on Charlie Kirk

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, September 17, 1925. Establishment of the Polish Orthodox Church.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, September 17, 1925. Establishment of th...: 

Thursday, September 17, 1925. Establishment of the Polish Orthodox Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Church granted autocephaly to the Polish Orthodox Church.  The church has approximately 500,000 members today, of which 156,000 live in Poland.

Metropolitan Dionysius, head of the Polish Orthodox Church in 1925.  He'd be removed due to Communist pressure in 1948.

The Escadrille Cherifienne, a French Foreign Legion unit composed of Americans, bombarded the city of Chefchaouen, considered a holy shrine of the Jebala people.

Syrian rebels attack Al-Musayfirah.  The attack was at first successful but deployment of the French Air Force caused the rebels to withdraw.

Last edition:

Wednesday, September 16, 1925. B. B. King born.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1925 at the movies, Communists, Movies, Music, Personalities, The Blues

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, September 14, 1925. Appearance of the Byzantine Cross.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, September 14, 1925. Mitchell's comments d...: 

The Byzantine cross appeared in the sky over Athens during an old calendar service of the Greek Orthodox Church of  the Exaltation of the All-Honourable and Life-giving Cross of our Savior.  The Orthodox Church was being repressed by the Greek government at the time.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, September 14, 1975. Elizabeth Seton canon...

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, September 14, 1975. Elizabeth Seton canon...: 

Sunday, September 14, 1975. Elizabeth Seton canonized.

Elizabeth Seton was canonized.  We earlier discussed her here:

Sunday, August 28, 1774. Mother Seton.

 

St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton SC was born in the Colony of New York, in the city by that name.  Her prominent parents were protestants, as the overwhelming majority of those in the thirteen lower colonies were, with her mother being an Anglican daughter of an Anglican priest.  She married William Magee Seton, a wealthy 25 year old businessman, at when she was 19.  Both she and William were devout members of Trinity Episcopal Church.  Upon the death of her father in law, the family took in their six young in laws which added to their five children.

The undeclared war with Republican France that was fought on the seas between 1798 and 1800 rendered the merchant family bankruptcy, showing as an aside why the later War of 1812 was unpopular in New England, which depended upon trade with England.  In 1803 William was sent to Italy to convalesce due to tuberculosis but died in the British city of Leghorn where he was quarantine.  She was introduced to Catholicism while in Europe by Flippo and Antonia Filicchi, her husband's business partners, and converted in New York on March 14, 1805.  She began to become involved in education and then became a nun, founding a congregation dedicated to the care of children and the poor.

She died in 1821 at age 46.   Two of her daughters predeceased her.  A third, Catherine Seton, entered the Sisters of Mercy and is being considered as a candidate for a cause of Sainthood.

She was canonized in 1975.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 12, 1945. War, ripples of war, and...

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 12, 1945. War, ripples of war, and...:

Sunday, August 12, 1945. War, ripples of war, and impacts of war.

Fr. Karl Leisner died of tuberculosis after having been imprisoned in Dachau.  He was beatified in 1996.

The number of German Catholic Priests that resisted the Nazis is really not appreciated.  They were not alone, of course  Evangelicals (Lutherans) did as well, but nonetheless their numbers are remarkable, and in some instance their resistances to the Nazis is astounding.

Lex Anteinternet: August 10, 1910. Francesco Forgione (Padre Pio) ordained.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, August 10, 1910. Francesco Forgione (P...: 

Wednesday, August 10, 1910. Francesco Forgione (Padre Pio) ordained

St. Pio of Pietrelcina in 1919.  In this rare photo, his hands are uncovered and his wounds are visible.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina was ordained a Priest.  He was 23 years old.

Padre Pio in 1947.

Often in ill health, he was holy from an early age.  During World War One, in which he was called into service multiple times, he became a stigmatic.  He was a phenomenal modern saint.

Base Hospital 50 - University of Washington: Father William Martin Carroll, CSsR

Base Hospital 50 - University of Washington: Father William Martin Carroll, CSsR: The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps was officially authorized on July 29, 1775, and 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Corps. In honor of thi...

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 21, 1900. The murder of Fr. Alberic Crescitelli (1郭西德).

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 21, 1900. The murder of Fr. Alberi...: 

Saturday, July 21, 1900. The murder of Fr. Alberic Crescitelli (1郭西德).

Fr. Alberic Crescitelli (1郭西德) was executed by Boxers in China.  He was beatified as one of the Martyr Saints of China.

Last edition:

Friday, July 20, 1900. Still alive.

Labels: 1900, 1900s, Boxer Rebellion, China, China (Beijing), Telegraph

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 7, 1945. Japanese killings.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 7, 1945. Japanese killings.: 

Saturday, July 7, 1945. Japanese killings.

The Japanese carried out the Kalagong massacre, killing villagers in the area after they failed to provide any information about guerrillas in the area.

Peter to Rot.

The Japanese also murdered Peter To Rot, a Catholic from New Guinea, in a bizarre incidence demonstrating the severe Japanese anti Western view and, frankly, the Japanese debasement of the period, which not only reflected itself in murder, but in a chattel slavery view of women and sex.  He was executed for defending a woman whom another planned to kidnap and force into a plural marriage, with the Japanese supporting plural marriages in New Guinea (they were not legal in Japan).  He was arrested and then later murdered on this day.  He will be canonized this October.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 7, 1900. Martyrs of China.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, July 7, 1900. Martyrs of China.: 

Saturday, July 7, 1900. Martyrs of China.

Bishop Antonino Fantosati and Father Joseph Gambaro were tortured and killed by Boxer rebels.  They were both canonized as party of the Martyrs of China.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, June 11, 1915. The murder of Christians at Mardin.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, June 11, 1915. The murder of Christians a...:   

Friday, June 11, 1915. The murder of Christians at Mardin.

 

Capuchin Friar Blessed Leonard Melki was murdered along with other Christians, including Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, by Ottoman troops at Mardin.

Included in the murdered was Blessed Ignace Maloyan, Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin.

The French advanced 550 yards at Neuville-Saint-Vaast, France.

British and French forces took control of all garrisons around Garua, German Cameroon.

Last edition:

Wednesday, June 10, 1925. Creation of the United Church of Canada.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Canada, Catholic, Christianity, Protestant, religion

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 10, 1925. Creation of the United Church of Canada.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 10, 1925. Creation of the United ...:

Wednesday, June 10, 1925. Creation of the United Church of Canada.

Canada's largest protestant denomination, the United Church of Canada, was created by the merger of the Methodist Church, Canada and the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, as well as most of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches.  The union is surprising in that the base churches had real theological differences.

The Catholic Church is the largest church in Canada overall.

Last edition:

Sunday, June 7, 1925. The Death of St. Max Talbot.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Alcohol, Blog Mirror, Dominion of Newfoundland, Health, Ireland, It was because of World War One, Mental Health, Newfoundland, Personalities, Second Battle of the Somme

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, May 20, 325. The opening of the Council of Nicea.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, May 20, 325. The opening of the Council...: 

Thursday, May 20, 325. The opening of the Council of Nicea.

Well, at least probably.  

It seems fairly clear that the Council convened on this day, and that Emperor Constantine arrived to observe, not to participate, fourteen days later.  He had sought the council, however, given the Arian Heresy, which had an extremely widespread following in the Church. 

The president of the council seems to have been Hosius of Cordova, assisted by the pope’s legates, Victor and Vincentius.

The creed:

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Only Begotten Son of God,

born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,

and rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead

and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins

and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Lex Anteinternet: A Sunday Morning look at the Vietnamese Diaspora.

Lex Anteinternet: A Sunday Morning look at the Vietnamese Diaspora.:   

A Sunday Morning look at the Vietnamese Diaspora.

 

This is probably a coincidence.  This particular church has an associate pastor who is from Vietnam.  Indeed, he's the second Vietnamese priest to serve in the parish.  But this particular Mass comes up just after the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

Prior to the Vietnam War, very view Vietnamese lived anywhere other than Vietnam.  Some lived in France, due to the French colonial association with the country.  When the French Indochinese War ended, some Vietnamese in fact relocated to France, with a small number of actually being Vietnamese who were in the French armed forces.  It wasn't a large number, however, like it would come to be with Algerians.

The end of the Vietnam War however was different.

Many Vietnamese fled because they legitimately feared Communism, putting the lie to the often stated proposition that the South Vietnamese didn't really care how the war ended.  Thousands did, and of those who did, most didn't make it out of Vietnam.

Over 2,000,000 Vietnamese now live in the US, with 60% of those having been born in Vietnam.  37% of them report themselves as being Buddhist, 36%  Christian and 23% aren’t affiliated with any religion. Vietnamese Americans are more than three times as likely as Asian Americans overall to identify as Buddhist (37% vs. 11%), but with Buddhism being the "native" religion of the country in American eyes, that numbers if surprisingly low.

Indeed, it gives some credibility to Dr. Geoffrey Shaw's assertion in his biography of murdered South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm that at the time of the his assassination Buddhism was in significant decline.

However it would also reflect that the American understanding isn't really all that correct.  While some regard Christianity as "introduced", the fact is that Buddhism is as a well, with it being Indian in origin.  Vietnam also has a folk religion which shares many common elements of other Asian "folk" religions, including devotion to ancestors.

Today in Vietnam Buddhists make a 13.3% of the total population, and Christians a declared 7.6% with 6.6% being Catholic.  Hoahao Buddhists  make up 1.4%, Caodaism followers 1% and followers of other religions including Hinduism, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith, representing less than 0.2% of the population. Folk religion has experienced a revival since the 1980s, and it's widely believed that the official 7.6% of the population being Christian is in error, and actually over 10% of the population is Catholic.  The Catholic faith in Vietnam is so vibrant that it now supplies Priests to the United States, as the nation has a surplus of Priests itself.  Looked at this way, Buddhists and Christians are overrepresented in the United States in comparison to Vietnam, but it might actually present a more accurate make up of the Vietnamese religious makeup.

Or perhaps not.  One of the groups that most feared a Communist takeover in Vietnam were Catholics, and for good reasons.  Catholicism has always been antithetical to Communism and in many instances it was credited with being the only effective force on the Globe opposing it. Elsewhere in the same general region of the world, some credibly credit the CAtholic  Church for preventing mid 20th Century Australia from falling into Communism, something the far left in that country still strongly resents.  Catholics were well represented in the South Vietnamese government and military, and interestingly some of the leaders of its military converted to teh Faith during the war or even after it.  

Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam in the 2nd or 3d centuries BC, so its presence there is very old.  Christianity in Vietnam is mostly the story of Catholicism there, and was introduced by the Portuguese, not the French as is so commonly assumed.  Vietnam was never part of the Portuguese Empire, but its influence was very long, and very significant. The Vietnamese alphabet was developed by the Portuguese.

The Communist Vietnamese government has always been  hostile to religion in general and openly repressive against some. Catholic have notably been oppressed, and the native Cao Đài religion, which originated as late as 1926, was oppressed by both the Republic of Vietnam and Communist Vietnam.

France did of course have all sorts of influences on Vietnam due to its conquest of Indochina which commenced in 1858 and ran to 1885.  The very first Vietnamese refugees I met in the US spoke French as well and their native language, reflecting that they had been educated during the French colonial period. Today that number has dropped way off, with their being no need for French in daily life.  A much higher percentage of Vietnamese in Vietnam speak English today than French.  One of the very first refugees I met, who had been an engineer in  Vietnam, but who worked as a city mechanic in the US, struggled with English, but spoke French fluently.

At one time the Vietnamese Diaspora retained a close cultural connection with the defeated Republic of Vietnam and in some places, they still do.  Republic of Vietnam flags were prominent in some locations this past month in areas with large Vietnamese populations and they were displayed during commemorations of the fall of Saigon.  However, there are a not insignificant number of Vietnamese now who are post war immigrants, and whose association is not as strong or there at all.  The Republic of Vietnam itself is officially detested in Vietnam, and often open views about the Republic reflect the same.

Vietnamese in the US often express the hope that someday the separated people can be united somehow, something that's common for diaspora people.  But it won't come to be so.  As time moves on, the Vietnamese in the US will become more and more American, like Italian Americans are and Irish Americans, and less Vietnamese.  Part of that will occur through intermarriage, which is occuring in the US but which interestingly was not a common occurrence during the French occupation of Vietnam or the Veitnam War, with the cultural differences at the time simply being to vast for it to arise frequently.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, May 17, 1925. The canonization of Thérèse of Lisieux

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, May 17, 1925. The canonization of Thérèse...: 

Sunday, May 17, 1925. The canonization of Thérèse of Lisieux

Thérèse of Lisieux was canonized. She had died in 1897, making her canonization remarkably quick.

Lex Anteinternet: Pope Leo XIV

Lex Anteinternet: Pope Leo XIV: 

Pope Leo XIV

As I'd predicted, the new Pope, Pope Leo XIV, was a cardinal that wasn't in the pundit list.

A quote from an AP news article:

Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns.

Not just the AP, I said this yesterday, and in spades.  In fact, as a Distributist, Pope Leo XIII is one of my absolute favorite recent Popes.  He was an ardent opponent of communism and capitalism.

Some headlines:

NEWLY ELECTED POPE FIRST FROM US

From the Star Tribune.

MAGA Melts Down Over New Pope's Anti-Trump, Pro-Immigrant Social Media

Rolling Stone

This will be interesting. There was, yesterday, a flood of negative comments about Pope Leo from the mostly non Catholic populist far right.  I suspect that a hidden anti Catholicism in that quarter will really start to surface.

Indeed, Pope Leo being an American poses a real challenge to the isolationist, nationalistic MAGA populist elements now in power, as well as the pretending to be isolationist, nationalistic and MAGA fellow travelers.  Some have already wondered if that's part of the reason that he was chosen as Pope, but that will not be known for years, if ever.  At any rate, right now, it's really interesting to note that the US is lead by a not very smart almost octogenarian who has shown aggressiveness and extreme nativism, while global Christianity will be lead by a highly educated catholic concerned for the poor, who as a Cardinal corrected J. D. Vance's odd comments about an order of mercy.  

This leads, I suppose to noting that Pope Leo is, at this point, nearly as Peruvian as he is American.  But as noted, the Catholic Church is catholic, i.e., universal.  It's concerns are for humanity, not a narrow section of the American public.  But Pope Leo might serve to remind Americans of what the United States has, in its better moments, stood for. 

Lex Anteinternet: Conclave

Lex Anteinternet: Conclave: 

Conclave

Conclave:  late Middle English (denoting a private room): via French from Latin conclave ‘lockable room’, from con- ‘with’ + clavis ‘key’.

May 7, 2025

Today is the start of the Conclave to choose the 267th Pope, the head of Apostolic Christianity.

Cont:

As a note, nobody has a clue who will be picked to be the next Pope, in spite of all the rampaging speculation and commentary.

Cont:

First vote, no Pope selected.

May 8, 2025

The vote this morning did not result in the election of a new Pope.

Cont: 

White smoke.  A new Pope has been chosen.

Cont:

Robert Cardinal Robert Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV.

Related threads:

Reuters getting it wrong.

Lex Anteinternet: The Shoes of the Fishermen, Tax Collectors, Tent M...Twenty-One New Cardinals.

Lex Anteinternet: Conclave

Lex Anteinternet: Conclave:  

Conclave

 

May 7, 2025

Today is the start of the Conclave to choose the 267th Pope, the head of Apostolic Christianity.

Lex Anteinternet: Donald Trump insults Catholicism.

Lex Anteinternet: Donald Trump insults Catholicism.: 

Donald Trump insults Catholicism.

There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.

New York State Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

Trump, in something that's supposed to be a jest, posted a photograph of himself dressed as a Pope, no doubt generated by the onrushing curse of our age, AI.

I'm not going to post it.

This should serve as as warning to Trump supporting Catholics.  Trump, who received widespread Evangelical Christian support and who has housed an faith advisor office in the White House which is staffed by a rather peculiar Evangelical pastor, shows no signs at all as taking religion seriously, and never has, but he is comfortable with coopting it.  In spite of that, and this was inevitable, he doesn't mind mocking the oldest and original Christian religion.

That tells you what you need to know.

I've long held that a real Christian can't be comfortable with either of the two major US political parties or with their recent leaders.  Only the American Solidarity Party comes close to being a party Christians can really be comfortable with.  The presence of Catholic politicians at the forefront of either party does not change this.  Biden advanced the sea of blood objectives of the infanticide supporting Democratic Party.  J.D Vance has supported the IF policies of the bizarre Trump protatalist agenda and that's just a start.  The Church has rarely attempted to hold Catholic politicians directly to account for reasons known to itself.

Before the Trump regime concludes, this is going to get worse.  Trump will conclude that he doesn't need Catholics for anything, because he does not.  A religion which is catholic, ie., universal, by nature will not ultimately be comfortable with a political philosophy which aggressively nationalist and nativist.  This, indeed, has been the history of Catholicism in the US, with it only being after the election of John F. Kennedy that things changed.

Some will claim, of course, that this means nothing and its just Trump trying to be funny. That's politically disturbing enough, as Trump is already an embarrassment to the country.  But those who think this should ask if Trump would have dared to depict himself as, for example, an imam. . . not hardly.

Trump's insult is offered as its safe to offer it.  As has sometimes been noted, anti Catholicism is the "last acceptable prejudice".  Trump offered this insult as it fits in nicely with his contempt for Christianity in general, but more particular, for his contempt for the Church, something that fits in nicely with the most extreme of his Evangelical supporters.

Catholics need to review the meaning of The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus.  We're part of something larger, and once we surrender to something smaller, we need to be cautious.  We can expect to be mocked and held in contempt, and if we aren't, there may well be something wrong with our witness.

But we don't have to accept the situation, nor tolerate it, where we do not need to.

Neither Conservative nor Liberal

 

Neither Conservative nor Liberal

Blog Mirror: The Complex Legacy of Pope Francis

 The Complex Legacy of Pope Francis

Lex Anteinternet: Passing of Pope Francis.

Lex Anteinternet: Passing of Pope Francis.: 

Passing of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis died this morning at age 88.

A Conclave to choose the 267th successor to St. Peter must commence within fifteen to twenty days of today's date..

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, March 30, 1945. Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, March 30, 1945. Mère Marie Élisabeth de l...:

Friday, March 30, 1945. Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie gassed at Ravensbruck. Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose killed in action.

Algerian born Élise Rivet, whose father was a French Naval officer and whose mother was Alsatian, also known as Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie was gassed at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp after volunteering to take the place of a mother who was slated for that fate.  She had been arrested in 1944 for harboring refugees fleeing the Germans and for allowing her convent to be used to store weapons for the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance at the request of Albert Chambonnet.

She was 55 years of age.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, March 30, 1900. Passing of St. Leonardo Murialdo, 71, founder of the Congregation of Saint Joseph.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, March 30, 1900. Child and Female Labor.: 

Friday, March 30, 1900. Child and Female Labor.

Father Leonardo Murialdo, 71, founder of the Congregation of Saint Joseph died.. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on May 3, 1970.

Lex Anteinternet:

Lex Anteinternet:  :  

 

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ...:  

Blog Mirror: LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

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. Mt 1:23); 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 true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Lk 10:25-37), 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