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Pope Francis recently lectured a joint session of Congress about the importance of generosity toward immigrants from Central and South America who come to America. His exact words were:
Thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’
Pope Francis is the head of state of the Vatican, which possibly has the most restrictive immigration policies of any nation in the entire world.
While the Vatican welcomes millions of visitors every year, only a very select few people are admitted as residents or citizens.
About 450 of the Vatican’s 800 residents are citizens. They consistent primarily of cardinals of the church, the Vatican’s diplomats around the world, or those who live there because of their jobs, like the Swiss guards.
Only a few of the Vatican’s citizens are women.
The Washington Times sent an email to the Vatican spokesman asking for a comment but received no reply.
Texas Representative Michael Burgess stated the following about the pope’s call for generosity toward immigrants:
The thing that always strikes me when we get into these discussions is the United States takes in more people every year legally than the rest of the world combined. You start from that premise — it was 1.7 million last year, you want to add another 400,000 to 600,000 that came in without the benefit of doing it the right way. What is the right number? If over 2 million is not enough, would someone please tell me what that right number is, and would other countries act accordingly.
What do you think of Pope Francis’ call for Congress to have more compassion on immigrants? Share and comment below.
h/t: The Washington Times