Cardinal Gets Christian on Immigration

The Independent Catholic reports today that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor called for the UK government to consider an amnesty for illegal immigrants at a May Day Mass yesterday, for migrant workers at Westminster Cathedral.

Echoing the immigration debate in the US:

The Cardinal likened the current influx of migrant workers to the arrival of poor Irish labourers in London following the Potato Famine. Cardinal Manning's call then for just wages was influential on the Church's first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891)

The Cardinal said the Church does not encourage or approve of illegal immigration, but that he would stand with illegal immigrants against exploitation by employers, and help them play a fuller part in society:

Once they're here, as a Christian I have to say: 'I stand with you.' Even if they're here illegally, it's not for me as a Christian to say, 'I am going to make sure you're deported tomorrow.' It's for me to say: 'what are your immediate needs? How can I stand with you and help you?'"

What a nice man.

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