Church teaching on Immigration
There is a lot of confusion about what we are and are not obliged to do as Christians, towards immigrants and I would like to share with you, not my opinion, but Church teaching. This is not a political talk, and it is not a criticism of anyone or any party, because I believe that people have the right intention, but we should also know our obligations, as God teaches us.
Bishop Burbidge of Arlington says,
‘The Church does not support open borders, but rather a common sense approach where the duty to care for the stranger is practiced in harmony with the duty to care for the nation.’
Unconditional open borders is not the teaching of the Church.
CCC. (Catechism of the Catholic Church) 2241 ‘Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.’
The needy are entitled to our help, but not to use illegal means to obtain that.
CCC Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the rite to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions (the law). These conditions would indicate that some people are not permitted to immigrate into a country and if they do illegally, they may face punishment, [including being deported].
The issue of immigration was discussed prior to Vatican II, but without any teaching that any deportation and deporting those who had illegally entered a county was intrinsically evil.
1929 the Vatican signed an extradition treaty with Italy, agreeing to return any alleged criminals, who sought refuge in the Holy See, which they agreed extradite them. The Vatican wouldn’t have agreed to that if it considered it evil to do that.
What about the teaching of the Church through encyclicals and the teaching of the Church in the Magisterium [The official teaching body of the Church]?
In Gaudium et Spes, which was one of the documents of Vatican II, it speaks of causing people to move from one place to another, when the Church speaks of that, it’s about the ejection of people from their proper chosen home. That’s deportation. Deportation is evicting you from your proper home. Sending people out of a country that entered illegally back to where they came from is not deportation. That is repatriation. Deportation is kicking you out of your true home. Someone here illegally, this is not their one true home.
The Holy Family were not illegally refugees in Egypt, when they fled there, as it was part of the Roman Empire. St. Joseph obeyed the civil law by obeying the census. They complied with Roman Law as well as Jewish law. St. Joseph worked for a living and didn’t receive handouts. He wasn’t a fugitive from justice.
Vice president Vance mentioned the encyclical Ordo Amoris. It talks about a hierarchy of love. The order of love that we must give is:
God first,
family second,
country third,
our own people (citizens) fourth and
other people, fifth.’
There is a hierarchy. Catholic truth is not being taught on this matter.
JD Vance said the cartels are making 30 million dollars per day, smuggling people and drugs across the border. Those who enter the country illegally are at the mercy of cruel employers and landlords. They are paid well below the minimum wage and often given jobs that are dangerous. Their employers threaten to deport them if they complain.
One bishop said, ‘The truth of having a secure border, in an orderly and lawful immigration process, is indeed the most compassionate approach for migrants and it helps to guard against the chaos and mass suffering that is happening at our borders now.
In Mark’s Gospel (7:27-28), a Syro-Phoenician woman approaches Jesus and asks him to heal her daughter. Jesus replies,
‘First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’
Jesus was saying, there is a hierarchy of love.
There is a wall around the Vatican. Noone enters the Vatican without proper permission or paperwork. Even as a priest, I could not just walk into the Vatican. I would have had to get special permission and I was in Italy legally. If you do go in illegally you will be arrested.
People are exploited. Every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself and to determine who comes into its country, but there needs to be a legal process. When there isn’t, people are exploited, immigrants are exploited. If registered they are protected. We have always had immigration. I am an immigrant and probably everyone here’s ancestors are immigrants. I was talking to the owner of a tile store a few days ago, who is also an immigrant and we were both talking about this.
John Paul II said ‘Illegal immigration should be prevented.’
Is the State obliged to welcome all foreigners without condition? Does Church teaching require open borders and if so at what cost to the nation, its people and even to the migrants themselves?
Far from mandating open borders, or condemning deportation, the Catholic Church teaching is this
1. The civil authority’s primary duty is to the common good of its own people, who form the household of the nation.
2. Hospitality towards immigrants must be guided by prudence and ordered to justice.
3. Unchecked immigration can undermine civil society, exploit both native workers and migrants and serve the interests of globalism at the expense of the common good.
Thomas Aquinas says, ‘Foreigners who wish to be admitted entirely to the fellowship and mode of worship of another nation, should not be given the rights of that nations citizens immediately… Their offspring should have to wait for several generations before their offspring were admitted to citizenship.’ He says, ‘This is because the immediate admission of foreigners to citizenship could lead to many dangers.’ If foreigners were admitted fully into the affairs of the nations as soon as they arrive, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners might not have the common good firmly at heart yet.
In 373 the Germanic Goths were allowed to come into Rome as refugees. Soon they all rose up in revolt and they crushed the Roman empire. They ultimately contributed to the fall of Rome.
Civil authority must protect the common good of the nation, that of the people of the nation. The people have a legitimate right to exist as they are and to have this continuing existence protected.
The Church is not saying that we don’t care for people, we absolutely should care for people, but there is an order that must be followed.
Cardinal Dulles, the Cardinal of Catholic Bishops said, ‘Individual deportations of undesirable aliens occurs continually as a matter of national policy today. Mass deportations could perhaps be necessary for the sake of peace and security.’ Civil authority can justly restrict some civil rights of those who aren’t members of the civil society.
CCC: ‘Civil society has a right to defend itself and the people of which it is constituted. Non-citizens don’t have unconditional rights to reside, receive full benefits, or to automatically obtain citizenship. This is manifested in the law of the old covenant and of the duties which are imposed in the New Testament.
The Bible
In first letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul writes, ‘But if any man have not care of his own and especially those of his house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.’
Thomas Aquinas, quoting St. Augustine, says, ‘We can wish well to everyone, but those to are closer to us are regarded as our principles and consequently more worthy of love. If he does not observe the faith with regards to those to whom nature has given him, the result is that he will not regard it to others.
The Jewish people for forty years were going from country to country, but seeking out their true home, which was the Land of Canaan, which God had given them. In other words it was repatriation.
So there you have what the Church teaches. Immigrants should be allowed in, but legally and in the right way, so that they won’t be exploited.
We have a duty to love everyone, and it is important that we do our best to treat people with dignity and respect, but there is also an order in which it should be done. We don’t want anyone to be exploited and everyone should be given a fair chance, but it must be done in the right way. This is the teaching of the Church, not my teaching.
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