The primary American-born Pope marked his dwelling nation’s 250th birthday by urging it to proceed its custom of “welcoming, defending and helping immigrants.”
Pope Leo commemorated America’s Independence Day with a letter and a go to to the Italian island of Lampedusa––a gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to European sanctuaries.
Within the letter, titled “Letter of his Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of america of America,” the Chicago native cited the “God-given dignity of each human life,” asserting that every individual is “endowed with an inherent value that requires reverence, safety and care,” which requires “safeguarding human life.”
“Defending human life,” Leo added, “additionally contains welcoming, defending and helping immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have shaped a part of the historical past of this nation from its very starting.”
Since his appointment in Could of final yr, Leo has been a vocal advocate of migrant rights, and a persistent critic of the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown, which he has referred to as “inhumane.”
He continued that effort in his July 4th letter, saying that to welcome “those that have arrived in search of freedom, alternative and a spot to belong … will not be solely an act of charity, but additionally a recognition of the dignity that belongs to each human individual.”
Leo additionally used the letter to reward America’s longstanding encouragement of “spiritual freedom,” describing it as “central to the American promise, defending each particular person dignity and the peaceable coexistence of a various individuals.” The Trump Administration has not too long ago undermined that sentiment, elevating officers who’ve challenged the longstanding thought of a separation of church and state.
Along with his letter, Leo gave a speech on Saturday in Lampedusa wherein he made an analogous attraction to European leaders to deal with immigration “in a complete method, integrating instant aid efforts right into a long-term strategic plan able to receiving, defending, supporting and integrating migrants.”
The Vatican introduced in February that Leo would spend the Fourth of July on the island, Italy’s southernmost port, the place 1000’s of migrants annually cease on their perilous and sometimes lethal expedition throughout the Mediterranean and north to European international locations.
Many migrants gathered on Saturday to listen to the pontiff, who additionally referred to as on European leaders to enhance circumstances within the international locations immigrants come from to scale back migration.
Leo’s Saturday pleas to European and American leaders should not unprecedented.
In Could of final yr, Leo mentioned the dignity of migrants have to be revered, talking to world diplomats and invoking his personal immigrant background. “My very own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in flip selected to to migrate,” he mentioned earlier than ambassadors on the Vatican.
Then in October, whereas assembly with migrant advocates visiting the Vatican from the U.S., Leo was moved to tears after viewing movies of individuals expressing their concern over Trump’s deportation marketing campaign, in accordance Dylan Corbett, an govt director of the Hope Border Institute, who was a part of the visiting U.S. delegation and spoke to TIME.
As Trump was cracking down on Chicago’s immigrant neighborhood, Leo additionally met with union leaders in his dwelling city and urged them to stay up for these most susceptible populations within the metropolis.
“Whereas recognizing that applicable insurance policies are essential to hold communities protected, I encourage you to proceed to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of essentially the most susceptible,” Leo mentioned to the union leaders.
Whereas a lot of Leo’s feedback haven’t particularly focused Trump, he has at instances instantly responded to the President’s assaults. In June, after Trump referred to as Leo “WEAK on Crime” and “horrible for Overseas Coverage” in response to the Catholic Church criticizing the U.S.-Israel battle with Iran, Leo mentioned that he had “no concern of the Trump Administration, or of talking out loudly in regards to the message of the Gospel.”
