Bishops tell pope they'll continue to stand with migrants, defend right to worship freely

BALTIMORE (OSV News) -- In a message to Pope Leo XIV at the start of their fall plenary assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops told the pope Nov. 11 that they "will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone’s right to worship free from intimidation."

"As shepherds in the United States, we face a growing worldview that is so often at odds with the Gospel mandate to love thy neighbor," they wrote. "In cities across the United States, our migrant brothers and sisters, many of whom are fellow Catholics, face a culture of fear, hesitant to leave their homes and even to attend church for fear of being randomly harassed or detained.

"Holy Father, please know that the bishops of the United States, united in our concern, will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone’s right to worship free from intimidation," the bishops wrote. "We support secure and orderly borders and law enforcement actions in response to dangerous criminal activity, but we cannot remain silent in this challenging hour while the right to worship and the right to due process are undermined."

The bishops continued: "In our nation, as well as in our world, we face so many challenges in witnessing to the Gospel: the growing narrowness and selfishness of individualism, economic and social impoverishment, growing polarization, animosity, and political violence, the inability to engage in civil discourse, the lack of generosity to work with each other, and constant threats to the life and dignity of every human person, especially the poor, the elderly, and the unborn.

"Despite these challenges, we are encouraged by the Christian virtues of hope and charity," the bishops wrote. "Where the world sees others as a problem or a burden, we must, and we will continue to show that each person is loved by God and therefore deserves to be respected, whether in the womb, a stranger, or homeless, hungry, in prison, or dying."

The bishops continued: "As you know well, the United States is richly blessed with vibrant parishes, dedicated clergy and religious, and many faithful lay women and men who live in hope and charity. With them, on a person-to-person level, our dioceses and our parishes continue to help those in great need. Your Holiness, we humbly ask you to bless them and the whole Church in our Country that we may be ever more faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus and credible witnesses to His kingdom."

They concluded, "May the Holy Spirit inspire our assembly and the work that lies before it."
The message was met with applause by the body of bishops.