Leo XIV should show understanding of America’s situation before he moralizes as Francis did on American immigration policy.
Read MorePopes Pontificating on Immigration
Note: This article also appears at The Stream: https://stream.org/popes-pontificating-on-immigration/
Popes Pontificating on Immigration
By Lawrence W. Reed
All it took for me to recall the words of Jesus from Luke 23:34—“Forgive them for they know not what they do”—was to listen to the late Pope Francis pontificate on economic matters. He was a fountain of left-wing clichés, prompting the Wall Street Journal to editorialize in the wake of his passing, “He championed the poor while favoring ideas that keep them poor.”
Javier Milei, the President of Argentina from whence Francis came, once called the Pope an “imbecile” promoting communism. Milei was much kinder when Francis died, but his earlier criticism was closer to the truth.
The selection of a new pontiff from America is reason to hope for something better in the Vatican’s pronouncements on public policy. Leo XIV will be an improvement over Francis if he gets economics right and if he eschews hypocrisy.
Case in point: Immigration. Pope Francis lectured America on it, expressing displeasure at the Trump administration’s border closure and deportations. But it was only this past January when Francis’s papal government cracked down on illegal immigration into Vatican City. According to a reporter for the Catholic News Agency,
Anyone convicted of illegal entry will be banned from entering Vatican territory for a period of up to 15 years. If this sanction is breached, the offender may be punished with a prison sentence of one to five years.
The new rules declare that unauthorized overflight of Vatican airspace (including drones) will be punished with prison sentences of up to three years plus a fine of about $26,000.
How many migrants did Francis take in last year? asks Christopher Tremoglie in The Washington Examiner. And how many migrants does Vatican City allow to live in its city-state? “The answer to both questions,” writes Tremoglie, “is zero.”
Vatican City, it turns out, maintains some of the strictest immigration regulations in the world. Reaching 46 feet in height, the 1,200-year-old Leonine Wall surrounds it, and Francis never suggested removing it.
Francis expressed disdain for Trump immigration policy by calling it nothing more than “throwing away migrants.” But the Rome-based news agency Zenit reported only last year that Francis himself was less than welcoming to illegals:
In May 2023, Pope Francis approved a new Fundamental Law for the Vatican City State, reinforcing strict criteria for citizenship and residency…Marriage and family ties offer no guarantees for continued residency, with the law stating that permissions for spouses and children cease under specific circumstances, such as annulment or separation. Furthermore, children of Vatican citizens lose their citizenship upon reaching adulthood, unless specific conditions are met.
In Luke 6:42, Jesus said, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Vatican policy on immigration may not be precisely analogous to a plank in the eye. Perhaps it makes some sense, given the size and special nature of the tiny city-state. The reader can decide. Leo XIV, however, should show understanding of America’s situation before he moralizes as Francis did on American immigration policy. If he doesn’t, we might smell a little hypocrisy in the air.
Sources:
Vatican Cracks Down on Illegal Entry Into Its Territory by Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
How Many Immigrants is Pope Francis Admitting in Vatican City This Year? by Christopher Tremoglie
Vatican City’s Immigration Law, One of the Strictest in Europe by Zenit staff
The Pope’s Disastrous Letter on Immigration by Phil Lawler
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/popes-disastrous-letter-on-immigration/
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(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. He blogs at www.lawrencewreed.com.)