Pope Francis condemns the massive expulsions of migrants ordered by Trump

Unofficial translation of the Pope’s letter

Dear brothers in the episcopate,

I am writing to you today to send you a few words in these delicate moments that you live as pastors of the people of God who walk together in the United States of America.

1. The journey of slavery to freedom that the people of Israel traveled, as the book of the Exodus tells, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration , as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a god always close, embodied, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of any human person.

2. These words in which I start are not an artificial construction. Even a superficial examination of the social doctrine of the Church shows with insistent that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (cf. Mt1, 23); He did not live away from experience difficult to be expelled from his own country because of an imminent risk for his life and the experience of having to take refuge in a foreign society and culture to hers. The Son of God, by making himself a man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words by which Pope Pius XII began his apostolic constitution on the care of migrants, considered to be the “Magna Carta” of church thought on migration: “Nazareth’s family In exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrated to Egypt and refugees there to escape the anger of an impious king, are the model, example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of all ages and all country , of all the refugees of any condition which, beacular by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, their beloved family and their friends dear to foreign land. »»

3. Similarly, Jesus Christ, all of a love of universal love, educates us to the permanent recognition of the dignity of all human beings, without exception. Indeed, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity”, we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value that the human person has surpasses and supports any other legal consideration which can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of public norms and policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his fundamental rights, not the other way around.

4. I closely followed the major crisis which takes place in the United States with the launch of a program of massive evictions. A properly formed consciousness cannot fail to make a critical judgment and to express its disagreement with any measure which tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of certain migrants with crime. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and to protect communities against those who have committed violent or serious crimes during their stay in the country or before their arrival. That said, to expel people who, in many cases, have left their own country for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, Achievement of the dignity of many men and women, and whole families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and helplessness.

5. This is not a minor question: a real rule of law is precisely verified in the worthy treatment that all deserve, in particular the poorest and most marginalized. The real common good is promoted when society and the government, with creativity and strictly respect for the rights of all – as I have said on numerous occasions – welcome, protect, promote and integrate the most frailized, the most disadvantaged and the most vulnerable. This does not prevent the development of a policy that regulates ordered and legal migration. However, this development cannot occur thanks to the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of each human being, starts badly and will end badly.

6. Christians know that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as people and as a communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests which gradually extend to other people and other groups. In other words: the human person is not a simple, relatively expansive individual, endowed with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a dignified subject which, through the constitutive relationship with everyone, in particular with the poorest, can gradually mature in their identity and its vocation. The Trueordo Amoris that must be promoted is the one we discover by constantly meditating on the parable of “good Samaritan” (cf. LC 10, 25-37), that is to say in meditating on love which builds a fraternity open to everyone, without exception.

7. But care about personal, community or national identity, beyond these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that deforms social life and imposes the will of the strongest as a criterion of truth.

8. I recognize your precious efforts, dear bishop brothers of the United States, while you work in close collaboration with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will reward abundantly everything you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less precious, less important or less human!

9. I urge all the faithful of the Catholic Church, as well as all men and women of good will, not to give in to discriminatory stories and causing unnecessary sufferings to our migrant and refugee sisters. With charity and clarity, we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us more closer, to avoid the walls of ignominy and to learn to give our life as Jesus Christ gave the his for everyone’s salvation.

10. Let us ask Notre-Dame de Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain because of migration and/or deportation. That the “Virgen Morena”, who knew how to reconcile the peoples when they were hostile, gives us everyone to find ourselves brothers and sisters, in his arms, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a more society fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.

Fraternally,

Francis

Vatican, February 10, 2025