BALTIMORE (RNS) — The U.S. Catholic bishops said they oppose “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” in a special message at their November meeting on Wednesday (Nov. 12). Immigration was a major theme of the meeting, but the language of the statement came together at the last minute, as Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, said it was necessary for the conference to take a stronger stance.
“How can we say to the people who are suffering from this moment that we stand with you if we don’t clearly say that we are opposed to the indiscriminate deportation of people?” Cupich said, insisting the bishops should approve an amendment to the immigration statement they were set to release. Previously, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, who served as head of the bishops’ conference until a new leader was elected yesterday, had indicated he wished to move forward without an amendment process.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting in Baltimore this week, ultimately approved Cupich’s language to be included in the statement. In other parts of the statement, they addressed the impacts they are seeing in their communities as the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign continues.
Releasing a rare “special message” seems to indicate the bishops are particularly concerned about immigration. They last gave a similar message at a 2013 meeting, rejecting the federal government’s mandate that health care plans cover contraception.
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops wrote. “We are grieved when we me …