EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso Bishop on the front lines of the U.S. immigration crackdown met Wednesday, Oct. 8, with Pope Leo at the Vatican and brought him a package of letters from immigrant families fearing they will be rounded up and deported.
Bishop Mark Seitz and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino showed Leo a video detailing the plight of migrants. Leo vowed to stand with them and the church leaders who are trying to help the migrants.
Catholic leaders in the U.S. have denounced the Trump administration’s crackdown, which has upended life in churches and schools that serve migrant communities.
The administration has defended the crackdown as safeguarding public safety and national security.
The letters Seitz brought Leo detail the terror that even legal migrants are facing every day, fearing that they or their relatives without proper papers could be deported at any moment.
“We had the opportunity in this jubilee for migrants to bring a small group from El Paso. There ended up being 11 of us totally, including my auxiliary bishop, to meet with the Holy Father. He gave us a private audience this morning,” Seitz said.
The letter shown to the Pope were collected from around the United States, from immigrants, writing about their present situation and their experience, according to Seitz.
Leo, like Pope Francis before him, has taken a strong line reaffirming Catholic teaching on immigration.
Just before he died, Francis strongly rebuked the Trump Administration’s plans for mass deportations, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity.
Last weekend, Leo celebrated a special holy year Mass for migrants, denouncing the coldness of indifference and the stigma of discrimination that migrants, desperate to flee violence and suffering, often face.
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