Dennis P. McCann
Pope Francis’ view of proper care for migrants was clearly set out in his Letter to the US Bishops (Francis, 10 February 2025)[1] in which he reaffirmed the Vatican’s forthright defense of immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, spelled out in Pope Pius XII’s Apostolic Constitution of 1952, Exsul Familia Nazarethana,[2] which not only defined the Church’s tradition on welcoming and caring for immigrants and other displaced persons, but also created a number of church-related institutions for addressing their concerns in coping with the devastation of World War II.
In his letter to the US Bishops, Francis quotes in full the first paragraph of Exsul Familia Nazarethana, which provides the point of departure for attitudes and practices consistent with Catholic social teaching responding to the needs of immigrants:
“The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt, is the archetype of every refugee family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, living in exile in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are, for all times and all places, the models and protectors of every migrant, alien and refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by want, is forced to leave his native land, his beloved parents and relatives, his close friends, and to seek a foreign soil.” (Pius XII, 1952)
Francis goes beyond Pius XII’s invocation of the refugee status of the Holy Family: “Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of ‘infinite and transcendent dignity,’ we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society.” (Francis, 2025, par 3)
What Pius XII had recognized as the Holy Family’s sharing in the experience of migrants, aliens and refugees of every kind, thus is universalized theologically in “a permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.” Francis spells out the practical consequences of this theological assertion. As he declares to the US bishops, any “program of mass deportations,” such as that implemented by the Trump administration, must be rejected because of its failure to respect either human dignity or the common good, and is clearly contrary to the rule of law. A discerningly “critical judgment…must express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” (Francis, 2025, par 4)
In retrospect, Francis’ comment on the US government’s policy represents a culmination of his efforts world-wide to demonstrate care for immigrants, starting with his repeated concerns for those seeking entry into the European Union (Dell’Orto and Brito, 2025; Mares, 2019), plus his interventions protesting proposed changes in Japanese immigration policies (UCA News, 2019), his words of encouragement to Filipino diaspora communities in Spain (Millare, 2024), as well as his support for the work of caring for migrants undertaken by the Jesuit Conference in Asia (JCAP, 2025). Clearly, his care for migrants is universal and not simply focused on recent controversies over the dramatic changes in US public policies.
The Letter to the US bishops, however, allowed Francis to spell out the morality that ought to guide immigration policies generally: “One must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.” (Francis, 2025, par 4)
Francis explains: “This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. 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.” (Francis, 2025, par 5)
Francis underscores the line that cannot be crossed in any immigration policy and its implementation: “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.” Furthermore, the Medieval notion of an “ordo amoris” is not to be used—as some American Catholics have used it—to justify policies that turn a blind eye to the difficulties of immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” (Francis, 2025, par. 6)
Francis’ appeal to the parable of the Good Samaritan, as the touchstone for interpreting how Christian love should be practiced, recalls his provocative and compelling meditation on that parable in his second great encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti (2020).[3] Jesus gave the parable (Luke 10:25-37) in answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Regarding all others as neighbors clarifies the meaning of the Great Commandment of Love honored, at least in theory, by Christians and Jews. What does it mean to “love thy neighbor as thyself”? Jesus answers this question by invoking the example of “the Good Samaritan.” In Francis’ telling, the story of the Samaritan’s personal care for the wayfarer who had been left for dead by robbers indicates that anyone who needs our help is our neighbor. With this parable, Francis provides a radical clarification of what “Fraternity” means, one in which there are no limits on our care for others in need.
Fratelli Tutti does not directly link the Good Samaritan with the sufferings of today’s migrants, but his remarks on “borders” convey the deeper challenges that he sees in the parable. The most important of these is his vision of a world without boundaries. In a fallen world dominated by organized selfishness or “concupiscence” (2020, par 166), borders may be inevitable, but they keep us from realizing the true meaning of fraternal love:
“Migrations, more than ever before, will play a pivotal role in the future of our world. At present, however, migration is affected by the ‘loss of that sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters on which every civil society is based’… I realize that some people are hesitant and fearful with regard to migrants. I consider this part of our natural instinct of self-defense. Yet it is also true that an individual and a people are only fruitful and productive if they are able to develop a creative openness to others. I ask everyone to move beyond those primal reactions because ‘there is a problem when doubts and fears condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even – without realizing it – racist. In this way, fear deprives us of the desire and the ability to encounter the other’” (2020, par 40-41).
While deeply concerned with the underlying spiritual crisis that prevents us from overcoming the various pathologies of a “throwaway culture” (Francis, 2020, pars 18-31, par 188), Fratelli tutti specifically highlights the ideological failures symptomatic of this culture, namely, the twin distortions of “populism” and “liberalism.” Francis carefully distinguishes the distortions inherent in these, from legitimate concerns for the common good and human dignity that may have animated them (2020, par 155-169):
“Closed populist groups distort the word ‘people’, since they are not talking about a true people. The concept of “people” is in fact open-ended. A living and dynamic people, a people with a future, is one constantly open to a new synthesis through its ability to welcome differences. In this way, it does not deny its proper identity, but is open to being mobilized, challenged, broadened and enriched by others, and thus to further growth and development.” (2020, par 160).
The ideological distortion is evident in the populist rejection of a people’s inclusive claims, as if the people included only those who support a particular political agenda, as if those neighbors who objected to it, or dissented from it, were not part of the people and could be deported or otherwise denied their human dignity or proper share in the common good. Along with the errors of a “liberalism” that cannot get beyond managing the demands of various interest groups (Francis, 2020, pars 22-24), such ideological distortion is responsible for the “throwaway world’s” astonishing indifference to the sufferings of migrants:
“Certain populist political regimes, as well as certain liberal economic approaches, maintain that an influx of migrants is to be prevented at all costs. Arguments are also made for the propriety of limiting aid to poor countries, so that they can hit rock bottom and find themselves forced to take austerity measures. One fails to realize that behind such statements, abstract and hard to support, great numbers of lives are at stake. Many migrants have fled from war, persecution and natural catastrophes. Others, rightly, are seeking opportunities for themselves and their families. They dream of a better future and they want to create the conditions for achieving it”. (Francis, 2020, par 37).
The Letter to the US bishops recognizes that the situation for migrants is deteriorating, as if the hope expressed in Fratelli Tutti has been further eroded. It therefore is blunt in its condemnation of “populist” programs of mass deportation: “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.” (2025, par 4). His exhortation is no less provocative:
“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.” (2025, par. 9).
Though gratefully received by the US Catholic bishops, other American Catholics working in the Trump administration have dismissed Francis’ teaching. As the Associated Press reported, “Vance’s reference to the ordo amoris had won support from many on the Catholic right in the U.S., including the Catholic League, which said he was right about the hierarchy of Christian love. Writing in Crisis Magazine, editor Eric Sammons said Vance was merely drawing on the wisdom of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and the broader teaching of the Church to insist on loving things in an order. ‘For Augustine, every love, even the love of neighbor, must be ordered beneath the love of God,’ he wrote. ‘This hierarchy extends to our human relationships where love for family, community, and nation should precede our love for the world at large, not in intensity but in priority of duty and responsibility.’”[4]
Still smouldering was the controversy Francis stirred during Trump’s first term, when he challenged the administration’s proposal to build a wall on the US southern border to keep migrants out: “Those who build walls will become prisoners of the walls they put up,” the Pope said. “This is history.” (Watkins, CNN, 2019) In response to Francis’ repeated protests against the abuse of migrants, including mass deportations, US border czar, Thomas Homan, a Catholic, brought up the controversy over a border wall once more, commenting that Francis should fix the Catholic Church and leave U.S. border protection to his department. “He wants to attack us for securing our border. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?” Homan told reporters in a video from The Hill posted on X. “So he’s got a wall around that protects his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States.” (Winfield, 2025)[5]
The death of Pope Francis has not silenced either his critics or his supporters. The election of a US citizen as Francis’ successor, Robert Cardinal Prevost, O.S.A., now Pope Leo XIV, promises that Catholic social teaching on our common responsibilities toward migrants and other vulnerable persons will not change (McElwee, 2025), and that the same level of care for the ones Jesus recognized as “the least of My brethren” (Matthew 25:40), that Pius XII commended for following in the footsteps of the Holy Family, and that Francis embraced throughout his papacy as the litmus test demonstrating the seriousness of Catholic commitment to the universality of human dignity and the common good, that Francis’ leadership in defining these priorities will not be forgotten in the years ahead.
[1]Pope Francis, Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops of the United States of America. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2025/documents/20250210-lettera-vescovi-usa.html.
[2]Pope Pius XII, Exsul Familia Nazarethana (1952). https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12exsul.htm.
[3]Cf. McCann, D., “Discovering the Truth in Fratelli Tutti, Macau Ricci Institute Journal, No. 8, “Changing an Economic Paradigm: Making Change Happen”, 20 October 2021: https://mrijournal.riccimac.org/index.php/en/issues/issue-8/198-discovering-the-truth-in-fratelli-tutti.
[4]On the controversy over the Medieval “ordo amoris” doctrine, see Pope, S., “The problem with JD Vance’s theology of ‘ordo amoris’—and its impact on policy.” America Magazine, February 13, 2025.
[5]For more details on the controversy among US Catholics, see the report of the Australian Braun, S., 2025: “How Trump, Vance and the MAGA ideologues have inverted Catholic teaching on love, peace and justice”. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/trump-vance-maga-distorted-catholic-teaching-love-peace-justice/104997010.
Dennis P. McCann, Faculty Fellow, Silliman University, MRIJ Managing Editor.
REFERENCES
- Braun, S., 2025: “How Trump, Vance and the MAGA ideologues have inverted Catholic teaching on love, peace and justice”. ABC: Religion and Ethics. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/trump-vance-maga-distorted-catholic-teaching-love-peace-justice/104997010
- Dell’Orto, G. and Brito, R., April 22, 2025. “Defending migrants was a priority for Pope Francis from the earliest days of his papacy”. https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-migrant-advocate-82193bcef21f096ce5f9754bba8f0cbb.
Jesuit Conference in Asia, “Building the future with Migrants and Refugees | Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.” https://jcapsj.org/what-we-do/social-justice/building-the-future-with-migrants-and-refugees/ - McCann, D., “Discovering the Truth in Fratelli Tutti, Macau Ricci Institute Journal, No. 8, “Changing an Economic Paradigm: Making Change Happen”, 20 October 2021: https://mrijournal.riccimac.org/index.php/en/issues/issue-8/198-discovering-the-truth-in-fratelli-tutti.
- McElwee, J., 5 October 2025, “Pope Leo, after Trump critique, urges Catholics to help immigrants.” Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-leo-after-trump-critique-urges-catholics-help-immigrants-2025-10-05/
- Mares, C., December 5, 2019 “Pope Francis tells Jesuits he is shocked by anti-immigration narratives in Europe.” Catholic News Agency. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/43003/pope-francis-tells-jesuits-he-is-shocked-by-anti-immigration-narratives-in-europe
- Millare, K., December 17, 2024. “Pope Francis To Filipino Community In Spain: The Church ‘Is A Warm And Welcoming Home’” https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/pope-francis-to-filipino-community-in-spain-the-church-is-a-warm-and-welcoming-home-4035#
- Pope Francis: Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops of the United States of America. (10 February 2025). https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2025/documents/20250210-lettera-vescovi-usa.html.
- Pope Francis, “Fratelli tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship,” 3 October 2020, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html
- Pope Pius XII, Exsul Familia Nazarethana (1952). https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12exsul.htm
- Pope, S., “The problem with JD Vance’s theology of ‘ordo amoris’—and its impact on policy.” America Magazine, February 13, 2025. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/02/13/ordo-amoris-stephen-pope-vance-249926/
- Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA) Reporter, Tokyo, November 28, 2019. “Change sought in Japan’s refugee policy after papal call.” https://www.ucanews.com/news/change-sought-in-japans-refugee-policy-after-papal-call/86697
- Watkins, E. (April 1, 2019). “Pope Francis: ‘Those who build walls will become prisoners of the walls they put up’” CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/01/politics/pope-francis-wall
- Winfield, N., February 12, 2025 “Pope slams Trump’s deportation policy, warns it ‘will end badly.” The Associated Press, https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/02/12/pope-slams-trumps-deportation-policy-warns-it-will-end-badly/
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