Catholic News Service: on Immigration

Amy Coney Barrett: Counting undocumented is long-standing Census practice

Since the census started in 1790, its practice has been to count all people living in the U.S. Currently, an estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants are living in this country. The point of counting everyone was raised by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who told the Acting Solicitor General who was representing the Trump administration: "A lot of the historical evidence and long-standing practice really cuts against your position."

Pope Francis: Must count undocumented people in US Census

"The church's teaching is clear: Human dignity is most sacred, regardless of legal status," he said. The USCCB, along with other Catholic organizations, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in this case, arguing that excluding those without legal documentation from the apportionment base of the census sends a message that these individuals are not equal members of the human family, which contradicts the dignity of all people and violates the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act.

Since the census started in 1790, its practice has been to count all people living in the U.S. Currently, an estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants are living in this country.

Pope Francis: Building walls instead of building bridges is not Christian

In February 2016, shortly after celebrating a Mass in Mexico just yards from the border, Pope Francis was asked by reporters about then-candidate Trump's promise to build a wall the entire length of the border. "A person who thinks only of building walls, wherever it may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian," the pope said.

Trump, asked by reporters to comment on that, said Mexico was "using the pope as a pawn," and he said it was "disgraceful" for a religious leader to question someone's faith.

The pope's approach, he said, is "to meet the major players in the field in order to reason together and to propose to everyone the greatest good, exercising the soft power that seems to me to be the specific trait of his international policy."