On Sunday Christians around the world celebrated Easter. In Rome an ailing and fragile Pope Francis spoke briefly and was driven around St. Peter’s Square to the delight of thousands gathered there. The next day the news spread quickly that the Pope had died. Expressions of grief at his death and gratitude for his life filled media headlines and reports around the globe. These came not only from Catholics but from other Christians and non-Christians alike.
A common theme was that Pope Francis did not just speak and teach about Jesus. He also walked the way of Jesus through his promotion of peace and his compassion for the most vulnerable people in all parts of the world. He did this through personally reaching out to the victims of war, poverty, and climate change. One example that came to light recently was his daily video calls to the priest and parishoners of Holy Family Catholic Church, the one Catholic church in Gaza. The first video posted below lifts up this amazing story. Pope Francis also reached out to the families of Israeli hostages and continued to call for a cease fire until the final day of his life.
In addition to the Pope’s many expressions of compassion for vulnerable people, he acted prophetically by calling out and denouncing the causes of injustice. This put him at odds with some world leaders including the Trump administration. Just two months before his death, Pope Francis wrote a letter to the Bishops in our nation. While commending them for their efforts to support migrants and refugees, he also criticized the American policy of mass deportation and the dehumanization of nondocumanted people. Here are some of his words:
I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality…The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.
Pope Francis provided an important insight by advocating for a policy of legal migration that maintains the human dignity of all. Our current national policy has resulted in scenes of fear, brutality, and dehumanization all in the name of a nation whose leaders want to protect and promote their version of Christianity. The second video posted below illustrates the contrast between these approaches to migration and Christianity.
May the witness and following words of Pope Francis guide and inspire us not just to say words about Jesus but to walk the way of Jesus:
I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.