Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said immigration is a “Gospel issue” before it is a “political issue” in the United States. In an exclusive interview with EWTN News reporter Valentina Di Donato, Seitz said the Church has a responsibility to reaffirm Catholic social teaching regarding the preferential option for the poor. “It’s always the role of the bishop to speak the Gospel, to reflect on that Gospel and its implications for our daily lives,” the prelate told EWTN News.
“We have a task to form people based on that teaching of love and mercy and compassion that applies not just in exceptional cases, not just to certain people, but in a special way to the poor and the vulnerable, and that includes immigrants,” he said.
Speaking about the “inalienable rights” every person is endowed with by God, the bishop said the rights of immigrants should not only be a concern of the Church but should also be “respected in law.” “While we are not politicians — it’s not our task to develop rules and laws — we are responsible to help form consciences and bring people back to the basic underlying principles, which, by the way, are principles upon which our country was built,” he said.
According to the bishop, U.S. asylum law is not being respected “right now,” as several migrant families living in the El Paso Diocese, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, no longer feel protected and fear deportation. “We should practice that [respect for] human dignity when we are dealing with a person who simply fled here because they had no other option,” he told EWTN News.
