The Wall Street Journal drops its collective jaw at Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo’s views on immigration and the pope. The pope spoke of America’s heritage of welcoming immigrants, even citing the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. He didn’t address the issue of illegal immigration. Yet Tancredo railed against him for daring to raise the issue of immigration. An Tancredo also made no distinctions between illegal and legal immigration–he’s wears t-shirts that say, “America Is Full.” Tancredo and Lou Dobbs think the Catholic church speaks about immigrants only because it sees them as a source of more members.
The WSJ’s punchline is a classic:
You know the restrictionists have gone head-first into the fever swamps when they denounce a Christian religious leader for sounding like a Christian.
The pope welcomes immigrants because he’s Catholic, not because they are. He isn’t “marketing” his faith. He’s practicing it.
Just what did the pope say on immigration?
First, in his private conversation with President Bush it is said,
The Holy Father and the President also considered the situation in Latin America with reference, among other matters, to immigrants, and the need for a coordinated policy regarding immigration, especially their humane treatment and the well being of their families.
To the bishops he said,
Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow Bishops were ministering two centuries ago had travelled from distant lands. The diversity of their origins is reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial life in present-day America. Brother Bishops, I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home. This, indeed, is what your fellow countrymen have done for generations. From the beginning, they have opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (cf. Sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty). These are the people whom America has made her own.
In the mass in DC he said:
Two hundred years later, the Church in America can rightfully praise the accomplishment of past generations in bringing together widely differing immigrant groups within the unity of the Catholic faith and in a common commitment to the spread of the Gospel. At the same time, conscious of its rich diversity, the Catholic community in this country has come to appreciate ever more fully the importance of each individual and group offering its own particular gifts to the whole.
To educators, he recalled that Catholic schools “helped generations of immigrants to rise from poverty and take their place in mainstream society.”
In the mass in New York, he simply alluded to “the successive waves of immigrants whose traditions have so enriched the Church in America.”
So, to the President, in private, he spoke of the need for immigration policy to take note of the reality in Latin America, for it to be coordinated, and for it to be concerned for the humane treatment of immigrants and the well being of their families. That’s it.
All of the other statements were made to Catholics. He reminded them of the richness of the church as a result of immigration. He reminded them of the role the church played in helping immigrants assimilate, especially through education. He reminded them how a unity of faith and purpose helped to transcend cultural differences. And he asked them “to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home.”
This is sound advice, non-political, but, as the WSJ said, rooted in the Christian gospel. It’s something that non-Catholic Christians can also affirm.
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