Catholic cardinal condemns “forces of division” and fear

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops decried what he said were “the forces of division’’ in the country, as he called Monday for immigration policies that keep families together and a “humane’’ approach to policing the border.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas, affirmed the government’s authority to protect national security. But he said recent policies and attitudes have often been rooted in unfounded anxiety about people who “look, talk and even think differently.’’ That fear is present both within and outside the church, he said. “The forces of division prey on our fear of the unfamiliar, the different. But fear is not of God,’’ said DiNardo, in an address to the bishops’ fall meeting in Baltimore.