Phil Lawler: The Pope’s Disastrous Letter on Immigration

In a letter ostensibly written to support the bishops of the US, Pope Francis has actually made life considerably more difficult for them. In his letter on the Trump administration’s immigration policies the Pontiff makes an argument that is poorly informed, easily rebutted, and likely to divide the American Catholic faithful. This is an argument that the American hierarchy cannot win. And, not coincidentally, the argument presented by the Pope differs notably from the most recent statements by more prudent American prelates.

Has any modern Pontiff ever written a statement so harshly critical of the policies of a sovereign nation? If so, it has escaped my notice. Mit Brennender Sorge unequivocally denounced Nazi racial ideology, but Pope Pius XI focused that encyclical on principles, not specific public policies. There is precedent for a papal letter cautioning the American hierarchy, of course, but in Testem Benevolentiae Pope Leo XIII too spoke in general terms—indeed, so general that the “Americanists” he set out to rebuke could and did reply that the Pope’s admonitions did not apply to them.

Not so with the letter from Pope Francis. There can be no doubt that he intended to criticize the Trump administration, and specifically its plans to deport illegal aliens. Nor can anyone who has followed the American political debate miss the Pope’s deliberate thrust at a specific Catholic political figure, Vice President J.D. Vance.

When they felt it necessary to intervene in political debates, previous Pontiffs were wise to limit themselves to the statement of moral principles. After all it is the province of the laity to apply those principles to the specific circumstances of life in the secular world, and the role of political leaders to make the prudential judgments that form public policies. The infallibility of the teaching magisterium does not extend to political debates. Indeed when prelates become partisan the results are usually injurious: to society, to the Church, or quite likely to both.

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