Francis, DJT and Immigration

“The Pope is Dead, Long Live the Papacy,” reads the Crisis Magazine headline. Crisis describes itself as the nation’s most trusted source for authentic Roman Catholic perspectives on church and state, arts and culture, science and faith. The article scathingly assessed Pope Francis for his progressive views and hoped that the next pope would adhere to more traditional Catholic values. Among the many criticisms leveled at Pope Francis were that he permitted Holy Communion for unrepentant sinners, okayed same-sex couples’ marriages, put Islam on the same footing as Catholicism, and forged the Vatican-China agreement which created a new diocese in totalitarian China.

My disclaimer: I’m a baptized Roman Catholic, an altar boy who served faithfully for several years, and remained active in church activities until my late teens. Priests frequently visited our home, so often that I considered entering the priesthood. But I gradually drifted away, and nothing distanced me faster and farther than when the Boston Globe in 2002 exposed the sexual abuse cases, which would eventually be revealed to span the globe to include hundreds of pedophile priests, thousands of victims and billions in settlements. In Boston alone, 140 priests were implicated in sex abuse charges against 552 victims, with more than $85 million in payments. In retrospect, I’m lucky that I, as a former altar boy with priests welcomed as regular guests at our house, escaped the horrific crimes that my young peers suffered.

To the list of grievances that Crisis detailed, I’ll add one more. On immigration, the Roman Catholic Church is hypocritical. From parish priests all the way up to the pope, their message is consistent---accept more illegal immigrants. If the faithful turn their backs on their fellow man, they’re not true Christians but rather selfish xenophobes. The Roman Catholic clergy holds predictably hardline opinions on President Trump, his deportation policy and the White House’s determination to protect American sovereignty.

Take as an example the former San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy, a progressive like Pope Francis and recently transferred to Washington D.C. to become the district’s archbishop. Asked if he would meet President Donald Trump when he became a permanent D.C. resident, McElroy replied that, in the short term, he had no such plans. Then, McElroy added in an obvious criticism of U.S. immigration, “What does it mean in our society to be a compassionate society … and we believe in the human dignity of every person?” McElroy called the wall and deportations “incompatible with Catholic doctrine,” added that Pope Francis shares his “profound concern” on the U.S.-Mexico border which he considers a “wider cultural attack” on those fleeing persecution and violence. The Pope said a problem today is an effort to portray immigrants as criminals. “When you classify people as criminals,” McElroy said, you class them as “the other, as different,” and thus deserving of lesser treatment, a curious statement that does not distinguish between convicted criminals like MS-13 or Tren de Aragua gangsters and family reunification immigrants. Ironically Italy, without papal interference, has cut immigration arrivals via sea by 60%, cracked down on false asylum claims, and made deals with some African nations to try to block departures.

Moreover, McElroy has his own shameful past tied to the pedophile disgrace. Victims’ lawyers claim that McElroy has been involved in serial cover-ups on behalf of the perpetrators. In 2007, the San Diego Diocese settled lawsuits brought by 144 victims, but recently more than 450 claims have been made. The Diocese said more than 60% of the latest claims are for incidents that occurred more than 50 years ago. If true, five decades still does not erase the victims’ pain or nightmarish memories. In his statement last year, McElroy alleged that settling the remaining cases at the same rate they were settled in 2007 would cost the church upwards of $550 million. To avoid that high-payout, McElroy put the Archdiocese into bankruptcy last year as he sought to delay or deny compensation to more than 500 victims. Just hours before the first of about 150 cases were scheduled for trial, the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 protection. Now, alleged victims looking for a settlement with the church will find themselves in bankruptcy court.

McElroy scorned President Trump #45 and #47, but he said he had a lengthy call with former President Joe Biden that included a discussion about the border. The breathtaking hypocrisy starts here. McElroy once said that abortion “remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself.” Yet, McElroy was willing to interact with one of history’s most pro-abortion presidents and, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, women’s right-to-choose administrations. Biden signed an executive order defending women’s ability to cross state borders to obtain an abortion, and he admonished the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Pope’s duplicity reached a peak when earlier this year President Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor Pope Francis should have refused with the explanation that he could not accept the prestigious medal from a pro-abortion president. Because of his abortion advocacy, Biden should be a pariah to Pope Francis and McElroy.

Final thought: McElroy is foolish to avoid meeting President Trump. Differences are best resolved face-to-face, not using the media as his messenger. If McElroy would reach out to President Trump, he would assuredly be invited to the White House and the Cardinal could lay out his personal immigration vision. He may not sell it, but McElroy would have a chance to speak his mind to the U.S. president, a privilege few Americans ever get.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org