Kneeling responds to Catholic in Brooklyn's thoughts on mass emigration/immigration
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free -- NOT!!
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Unfortunately, those on the right are no better. The right are passionate in their defense of the unborn and of the sick, weak and elderly who so often have no voice in our world. And that truly is commendable. But then they also fight for the right to capital punishment - killing criminals who need as much time in this life as they can get for a chance at repentance - and the right also fights against anyone strange and unknown coming into their land, no matter how desperate these people may be. We are talking about victims of war and persecution who have seen their homes destroyed and left with nothing but the clothes on their back. There is a faint, faint chance that 1 in a million may be a terrorist (if the odds are even that high), so it's us first and forget about anyone else.
Word in the news now is that Trump says the wall blocking off Mexico will be built in the new few months, and he plans to indefinitely ban ALL immigrants from Syria, and implement a month-long ban against all immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen. When the program does resume, it will be cut in half, allowing far fewer refugees into the United States.
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| These Syrian refugees better forget about coming to the US |
Pope Francis on Saturday warned against populism, saying it could lead to the election of "saviours" like Adolf Hitler.
In an hour-long interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, conducted as Donald Trump was being sworn in as US president, the pontiff also condemned the idea of using walls and barbed wire to keep out foreigners, among them refugees and migrants.
"Of course, crises provoke fears and worries," he said, but added that for him "the example of populism in the European sense of the word is Germany in 1933".
The pope added: "Germany ... was looking for a leader, someone who would give her back her identity and there was a little man named Adolf Hitler who said 'I can do it'."I do not like speculating about prophesy and "signs". But I can't help but notice that we are in 2017, the centennial year of Fatima, and that we have just concluded the Year of Mercy. Our Lord told St Faustina that first He would offer mercy to the world and for those who do not accept His Mercy, then judgment. Through Pope Francis we have just been offered a Year of Mercy, offered to the entire world.
"Hitler did not steal power," the pope said. "He was elected by his people and then he destroyed his people."
Many did not even take notice of this offer of Mercy, and went on with their lives as normal. Certainly the world has only gotten worse since the Year of Mercy stated in 2015.
Is now the time of judgment?
Write down these words, My daughter. Speak to the world about My Mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable Mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it , will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My Mercy; let them profit from the Blood and water which gushed forth for them…….. before I come as the just one, I first open wide the gates of My Mercy. He who does not pass through the gates of My Mercy must pass through the gates of justice. (Diary 848)I am also concerned about President Trump's seemingly close relationship with Russia. Our Lady of Fatima warned about the errors of Russia:
Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.President Trump has more than once praised President Putin of Russia, calling him a strong leader and calling for closer ties between our two countries. Trump seems to ignore the fact the Putin is a despot who murders his enemies. He boldly invaded the Ukraine. He is helping the tyrannical leader of Syria in Syria's civil war, bombing women and children and even hospitals.
President Trump has also said he plans to build up our nuclear weapons, as has Putin. Where does this put the rest of the world?
If America insists on turning her back on those in the most need, we cannot expect Our Lord to be there for us. As He said, whatsoever we do to the least of his brethren, we do unto Him. He did not make a caveat of, you don't have to do this if there is a slight chance that there might be bad people among those you are helping. Certainly Christ never made that distinction when He walked the earth.
Last year when Pope Francis was asked about Donald Trump, he replied:
A person who thinks only about building walls - wherever they may be - and not building bridges, is not Christian ... I'd just say that this man is not Christian, if he said it this way.What hath the United States wrought in the election of Donald J. Trump?
http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2017/01/trump-promotes-2017-march-for-life-in.html
And to be honest, I don't trust for a moment that Trump is pro life. He is supporting this movement because this is what his supporters are about. It is convenient for him. He made a very blanket statement back in his "liberal" days that although he did not like abortion, he "absolutely" supported a woman's right to choose.
As the Catechism says, echoing what John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae: "2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor." After which it goes on to affirm a preference for non-lethal means, where these are effective, noting that this is quite often the case in developed countries. Nonetheless, it clearly works to stay in some continuity with longstanding Church teaching, which has always allowed room for the state to resort to the death penalty. Were it to do otherwise, it would not only engage in rupture with that teaching, it would also stand in condemnation of the over 180 popes who ruled as sovereign over a polity (the Papal States) which employed capital punishment in its organic legal code through its entire existence (and which remained on Vatican City's code books until 1969).
It is possible as a Catholic to advocate against the death penalty. But it is also possible to advocate for it, too. In this respect, I would recommend Edward Feser's and Joseph Bissette's forthcoming book, "By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of the Death Penalty" (Ignatius Press).
The death penalty is designed to keep people safe from those who could do them harm. Those men (and women) living behind bars are of little danger to the rest of us. Our first concern for them should be their souls, for truly they are in eternal peril. Killing them when it is not necessary shows no concern for their souls whatsoever.
We do not live under the Old Covenant where people could be stoned for breaking the Sabbath. Our Lord brought a new way of dealing with sinners, and that is love and mercy and concern for their souls, not vengeance.
Thanks for responding...I thought it was related to your topic because Trump was responding to Muir bringing up the women's march.
regarding the refugees and uncontrolled immigration I would like you people who seem to want a sort of lassaiz faire border to contemplate the following:
Strict controls on immigration save lives.
How?
every year we in South Texas read about hundreds of poor souls who perish out in the sticks here from dehydration, exposure, etc. If there had been a wall or even better enforcement, I cannot imagine a scenario where those deceased people wouldn't still be alive. (probably living happily with intact families in their ancestral homelands.)
a similarly sad situation has occurred in the Mediterranean. On Lampedusa in 2013 the Holy Father highlighted his invitation to boat people. Since that time the annual death toll due to drownings has sky-rocketed 25 fold (( http://mapreport.com/subtopics/d/migrant.boat.accident.html ))
I don't see how the Holy Father doesn't share some responsibility for luring these people out of their homelands.
One of the main reasons we are seeing the terrible tragedies among the refugees is because so many have turned their backs on them, and we will all have to answer for that. If we were there to help them, they would not have to depend on those who are taking advantage and putting their lives at risk.
....as they have for centuries and have lived contentedly. When westerners dangle the prospect of a welfare-state before people used to working with their own hands for a living, many happy people suddenly become unhappy. Their families are roiled and their cultures are subjected to whatever Western fad dominates. Currently LGBT is the rage, in 10 years it might be something even more inimical to those cultures. We must help them. Corporally and spiritually, but promoting mass migration does neither. It disrupts lives and gets people killed along the way.
The Holy Father, and you, seem to think you are doing these people a great favor by transplanting them into secular western-welfare states which eschew God and tradition and worship Hollywood values. Please don't tell me you think America and Europe are something other than that!
People love home. Texans have convinced themselves they are living in heaven....most visitors here disagree. Believe it or not, most people, even Arabs and Africans and Asians, think their native land is the closest thing to heaven.
We must help these people since we funded the wars in Syria and Libya and Iraq and Yemen and Afghanistan and ???. So we do owe them. But we must be careful not to encourage any more deadly migration waves. You and the Holy Father seem unaware of all people who will die along the way.