Good News:Pope Opens Church Doors To Migrants As Governments Shut Them Out

[edhopper]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pope-opens-church-doors-to-migrants-as-goverments-shut-them-out

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is celebrating a special Mass for migrants in St. Peter’s Basilica, calling attention to their plight and inviting them to the Vatican as Europe, the U.S. and other countries increasingly close their doors to them.

Several migrants and representatives of aid groups that care for them were among the guests at the intimate Mass marking the fifth anniversary of Francis’ landmark visit to Lampedusa, the Sicilian island that for years was the primary destination of migrants smuggled from Libya.

During that trip the new pope denounced what he called the “globalization of indifference” shown by the world to migrants escaping war, poverty and climate-induced natural disasters.

Figure I should give him credit for being on the right side of this.

[thucythucy]

1. I'm old enough to remember the Sanctuary movement,

where church congregations risked arrest and seizure of property by the Reagan administration because they offered sanctuary to refugees fleeing oppression that our government wanted to deport.

They even had caravans to move refugees from the Southeast to congregations up north, pledging to nonviolently resist arrest if the (then) INS tried to stop them.

There are a lot of brave, committed people in the world. It's what provides me what little hope I have left for humanity.