Pope Benedict the sixteenth began his first visit as pontiff to the United States today by landing in Washington DC and holding private talks with the President. While the visit begins with head-of-state formality, the primary focus of the trip is to meet with Roman Catholic leaders here in the states and discuss their concerns. But the items they will be focussing on are not what some seem to be expecting.
The Washington Post has an overview of the Pope’s visit and the sorts of things that he’ll be focusing on immigration much more than people may have expected:
“Benedict’s visit will be limited geographically but will embrace a range of issues, including the Iraq war, immigration, the sex-abuse scandal and the state of Catholic education in the United States, through 11 public addresses and a private meeting with Bush at the White House today. His overall agenda for the trip, as he laid it out to journalists on his plane, dubbed Shepherd One, is to bring encouragement and attention to the struggles of the U.S. Catholic Church, to immigrants and their families and to what he sees as the religious foundation of human rights.
On the issue of immigration in the United States, Benedict said he considered the separation of families to be the most serious aspect. ‘And this really is dangerous for the social, moral and human fabric,’ he said.
The fundamental solution, he said, is to address the economic and employment problems that force many people to move to the United States. Without elaborating, Benedict said he planned to talk with Bush about his goal: ‘That there will be enough jobs and a sufficient social fabric so no one has to emigrate anymore. We all must work for this objective.'”
Read the rest here.
(Editorial aside: As a citizen of the state of Arizona, resident in the city of Phoenix which is on the front lines of the immigration debate at the moment, it is reassuring to know that the Roman Church will be working along with others to help find a solution to a very pressing problem.)