Trump, the Pope and Immigration
Not Waving But Drowning
A while back, I wrote an explainer on the Vatican attempts to stamp out the “Latin Mass,” the old Roman liturgy that prevailed everywhere prior to the Second Vatican Council. I don’t normally use this space for reflections on religion or my own, Roman Catholicism, but since it was in the news, I thought it would help non-Catholic readers know what was going on.
I’m going down this road again because the current pontiff, Francis, has crossed into the political realm, in ways that impinge on the world outside the Church. He has published a letter to the U.S. Catholic bishops on the subject of immigration. You can read it here, if you so choose.
In so many, word, it basically tells the U.S. bishops that concern for the “dignity of migrants” must be the first concern of immigration policy and that to put one’s nation or community above that concern is, in so many words, opposed to the Christian faith.
Needless to say, this is not how Catholic teaching on migration has been construed in the past, even by pope Francis himself. The document couches itself in equivocal language, typical of this pontificate, suggesting that policy of the Trump administration with regards to deportations is somehow immoral, without coming out and saying so directly.
Sufficed to say, the pontiff is free to make any statement he likes, but Catholics are only bound to what is essential to the faith, and to what is necessary for our salvation. Public policy can impinge on this and does, most notably in the case of abortion. But immigration policy is not a matter of salvation. No one is going to be excommunicated for enforcing immigration laws, no matter what Francis’s supporters in America may want.
If that is the case, then why send the letter? The timing and content of the letter are clearly meant to influence public opinion on the issue and to provide cover for those left-wing Catholics (and bishops) who want to attack the Trump administration, in particular vice-president J.D. Vance.
Vance recently invoked the concept of ordo amoris, an idea that goes back to St. Augustin of Hippo. The idea is that though we are called to love all men, those closest to us—family, friends, countrymen—have a prior claim to our affection than do people who are not as close to us—including foreigners. None of this obviates our obligations others, but it implies not all loves are equal.
If this sounds like common sense, it is. No where in the Gospels does Jesus say we should love strangers as much as our parents. What he does say is that the truth of the Gospel—the love of God—must come before all human attachments.
The pope’s letter is consistent with the pope’s interventions in the past, largely in favor of progressive causes and progressive politicians. The only thing new about this is the directness of the attack on a country’s policy like this. Normally, pope’s limit themselves to reiterating the principles of Catholic teaching. There’s a reason for this: the pope’s charism of teaching does not extend to prudential matters. Even the teaching on abortion only reiterates the principle that it must be opposed, since it in intrinsically immoral, but not what policies should be use to oppose it.
The letter will not do much to sway opinions one way or another, given how polarized people are on this issue, and the Catholics who voted for Trump are not bound to adhere to the prudential preferences of the reigning pontiff. In short, it is an attempt by a very political figure in pope Francis to come to the aid of his progressive political allies in the U.S., whose policies are being overturned and whose political party (the Democrats) are in disarray.
Pope Francis came to the throne of Peter around the same time that the craziness in the U.S.—transmania, BLM activism, IRS targeting of conservative groups, Obergerfell—and his reign is the result of the same forces, namely the capture of institutions. And pope Francis and his allies in the Vatican have the same problem as their confreres in the U.S.—they are old and the young have rejected them. Pretty much every young Catholic priest I know is at least conservative, and almost everyone I know under thirty is trending more traditional in their faith. Donald Trump made significant gains among adult 18-29 in this election. He won the most liberal county in my home state of Florida (Alachua county, home of the University of Florida, which locals refer to as “the People’s Republic of Alachua County”) largely on the strength of young voters.
The papacy is a unique institution, in that it can grab the attention of the world even in the current media environment. That’s probably why the pope (or one of his advisors) published the letter, to create a “narrative” of opposition the Trump’s policies. It won’t work, for the same reason the Democrats’ absurd “rallies” of octogenarian politicians against Trump won’t work either. They are both on a sinking ship, from which they have no where to go, and nothing to do but shake their fists and blindly rave as the ship goes down. In short, the pope’s letter is nothing anyone need lose any sleep over.