Pope Leo: Supporting human dignity does not mean ‘open borders’
Caroline MolloyPope Leo made one of his clearest public interventions yet on immigration policy, telling journalists outside the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo that defending the dignity of migrants should never be confused with advocating for open borders.
His remarks, delivered spontaneously in response to questions from journalists the evening of Nov. 18, came after questions about the ongoing immigration debate in the U.S. and the recent pastoral message released by the U.S. bishops.
The Pope praised the bishops’ moral leadership while simultaneously drawing a clear line: affirming the rule of law and the legitimate authority of governments is not contrary to Catholic teaching.
“I appreciate very much what the [U.S.] bishops have said [about immigration],” he said. “I would like to invite especially all Catholics and also people of good will to listen carefully to what they have said. I believe we must seek ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”
He then clarified: “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts. There is a system of justice, I think there are a lot of problems in the system. No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.”
Pope Leo went on to make an appeal for long-residing immigrant families who do not engage in criminal activity: “When people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least, and there has been some violence unfortunately… I think that the Bishops have been very clear in what they said, and I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”
