Latinos have enriched the U.S., pope tells American bishops

Church vows to stand with immigrants after Trump victory

BALTIMORE — Pope Francis praised Latino contributions to the United States in a message to American Roman Catholic bishops a week after Donald Trump was elected president and on the day the prelates put a Mexican-born archbishop in line to be their leader.

Francis noted on Tuesday that the U.S. church had welcomed immigrants throughout its history and said the “rich variety of their languages and cultural traditions” had enriched the church and the country. He urged the U.S. church to “go out from its comfort zone” and heal a society facing “increasing polarization.”

“Our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter which encourages individuals and groups to share the richness of their traditions and experience — to break down walls and to build bridges,” the pope said.

During the election campaign, Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals and pledged to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. He has vowed to deport people in the country illegally who have criminal records unrelated to their immigration status.

The pope sent the message to the annual Baltimore meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Earlier Tuesday, the bishops elected Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, as the conference’s first Latino vice-president.

The vice-president customarily becomes president after a three-year term, putting Gomez in line to be the first Latino head of the conference.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, who also has a large number of immigrant parishioners, was elected president for the next three years.

At the start of the meeting on Monday, the bishops issued a plea to adopt humane policies toward immigrants and refugees, and vowed to stand with them and serve them no matter what is ahead.

This year, Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis refused a request by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, now vice-president elect, to stop settling Syrian refugees in the state. The pope will make Tobin a cardinal in a ceremony in Rome on Sunday.

“On the level of immigration, from our point of view, we certainly respect the government,” DiNardo said at a news conference after he was elected. “But we also have the shepherd’s heart. If there’s somebody hungry, we’re going to feed them. If there’s somebody thirsty, we’re going to give them something to drink. If there’s somebody who is a stranger, we want to make them welcome.”

Latinos comprise about four in 10 U.S. Catholics and are already a majority in several dioceses, including Los Angeles, where they make up about 70 per cent of parishioners. In coming years, they are expected to become a majority in the entire U.S. church.

The new conference leaders do not set policy. But they will represent the bishops’ conference to Trump, among other duties. While bishops could find common ground with Trump, who has pledged to appoint anti-abortion federal judges, church leaders are deeply unsettled by his promised crackdown on immigrants and refugees.

Catholics are by far the largest faith tradition in the U.S., with more than 68 million members, according to the CARA research centre at Georgetown University. The U.S. church has a nationwide network of legal and social service programs for immigrants and refugees. “Our mission is to help people to be united in our country and have hope,” Gomez said.

At the Baltimore meeting, a video was shown of Francis reading his statement in English. It was timed to promote an effort called Encuentro, a national period of reflection and focus on Latino Catholics that will begin in dioceses in January and continue for years.

The pope made no mention of the U.S. presidential elections in his message.