Pope Francis Blesses Undocumented Immigrants

Pope Francis traveled to the border between the United States and Mexico on Wednesday, delivering a powerful message along the banks of Rio Grande river decrying systems of oppression that force people to flee to other countries and blessing undocumented immigrants.

The Holy Father arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico yesterday for a symbolic visit to a city just across the border from the United States. Standing before an estimated crowd of 200,000 people — roughly 30,000 of them seated worshippers — Francis delivered a homily that appeared to implicitly chastise both the United States immigration system as well as the horrible gang violence that has sent thousands of men, women, and children fleeing across the southern U.S. border.

He called the ongoing crisis a “human tragedy,” saying it amounted to a “humanitarian crisis,” and lamented the culture of death that has killed so many in Central America — comments that come as United States immigration agents launch a new wave of raids to detain asylum-seekers and deport them back to to the volatile region.

“Let us together ask our God for the gift of conversion, the gift of tears, let us ask him to give us open hearts like the Ninevites, open to his call heard in the suffering faces of countless men and women,” he said, referencing scripture. “No more death! No more exploitation!”

But like most of Francis’ high-profile visits, it was his actions — not just his words — that spoke the loudest. The most powerful moment of the evening arguably came just before the Mass, when the pontiff ascended a ramp along the Rio Grande river that divides the two countries. After a moment, he stopped, folded his hands, and prayed before a smattering of makeshift crosses erected as a memorial to the thousands of migrants who have died attempting to cross into the United States. He then turned to a group of about 400 people standing across the river in El Paso, Texas — many of them refugees from violence-ridden Central America seeking asylum in the United States — and blessed them.

As he prayed, the crowd of 200,000 Mexican worshippers watched in silence. Across the river, U.S. border agents watched through binoculars.

In a time when refugee families and children are being ripped from their homes, locked up in prisons, and deported to life-threatening violence, we will walk with the hope that each step we take will bring us one step closer to Pope Francis’ vision of a nation that truly welcomes the stranger,” a statement from the group read.

Francis has also weighed in on America’s specific immigration issues: He sent a personal letter in 2015 to Arizona teens who assisted immigrants, and called on American lawmakers to respond to an influx of migrants “in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal” during historic address to U.S. Congress last summer.

“On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities,” he told Congress. “Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. … Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

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