What the Bishops Got Right on Immigration

Through recent comments from Pope Leo XIV and a statement by the United States Bishops at the end of the annual meeting of the USCCB, immigration is again in the headlines of both secular and Catholic media. In an October address, for example, the Holy Father cited a “moral obligation to provide refuge” to the immigrant, and he complained about “abuse of vulnerable immigrants” in some nations. Some of these actions, the Pope asserted, are “serious crimes committed or tolerated by the State.” Similarly, on November 12, the U.S. Bishops issued a “Special Message,” echoing Leo’s “lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.” The USCCB, therefore, called for “meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.”