Washington Post
By Pamela Constable
March 27, 2014
American
Catholic church leaders are hoping President Obama's first-ever meeting
Thursday with Pope Francis at the Vatican will strengthen his resolve
to soften U.S. policy
on deportations, and that the pontiff's call for compassion toward
migrants will also bolster the prospects for immigration reform now
stalled in Congress.
Church
officials have also staged several high-profile events to reinforce the
Pope's message. On Wednesday, a delegation led by Los Angeles
Archbishop Jose Gomez brought
the young daughter of a man facing deportation to meet the pope at the
Vatican. Next week, a group of bishops led by Boston's Cardinal Sean
O'Malley will visit the U.S.-Mexican border and say a Mass for migrants
in Nogales, Mex.
But
although Obama recently signalled he may be willing to soften the rules
on deportation -- and the girl's father was released from federal
detention Thursday -- there
is no indication that the late-hour involvement of even the most senior
Catholic officials is likely to move House Republicans to reopen debate
on broader immigration reforms.
"What's
happening is extraordinary. Between the Pope listening to a
ten-year-old girl and Cardinal O'Malley going to the border, this is the
best the church has to offer,"
said John Carr, a former official of the U.S. Catholic Conference of
Bishops, now at Georgetown University. "The big question is whether
anybody is listening."
The
Obama administration has deported nearly two million illegal
immigrants, hoping to use that tough policy as a barganing chip with
Congress on broader reforms. Two
weeks ago, facing a barrage of protests from pro-immigrant groups and
no sign of movement in Congress, the president ordered a review of
deportation procedures on humanitarian grounds.
Immediately,
however, House Republican leaders warned that such unilateral actions
would jeopardize any chance of getting reform back on the table. A
spokesman for Speaker
John Boehner said that any executive action to ease deportations would
damage, "perhaps beyond repair, our ability to build the trust necessary
to enact real immigration reform."
Last
year U.S. Catholic officials, whose denomination includes millions of
Hispanic immigrants, launched a national campaign for immigration
reform, with special appeals
to key members of Congress including Boehner, who is a Roman Catholic.
The effort appeared to founder, and some critics said the church had
waited too long to have a meaningful impact.
Now,
with the clock running out, they are aiming a hail Mary pass at the
issue. On Wednesday Pope Francis stopped to greet Jersey Vargas, with cameras
whirring, while she tearfully asked him to help save her father. On
Thursday, the Argentine-born pontiff told Obama that immigration reform
was urgently needed, and the president said he responded that "I thought
there was an opportunity to make this right
and get something passed."
In
the Washington area, Catholic officials expressed excitement and hope
at the high-level encounter, saying they hoped Francis's personal appeal
would inspire Obama to
take action and stop deportations that have separated many Hispanic
families.
"Obama
has the power to take action, and we hope the Holy Spirit will stay in
his heart," said Fr. Eugenio Hoyos, who heads the Hispanic Apostolate of
the Catholic Archdiocese
of Arlington. "Just as the church can pardon sinners, our president can
give amnesty to people who are suffering. He doesn't need to wait for
Congress any more."
Other
church officials said the upcoming pilgrimage by Cardinal O'Malley to
the Arizona-Mexico border, billed as an effort to "bring attention to
the human consequences
of a broken immigration system," is an unprecedented gesture they hope
members of Congress, especially Boehner, may still heed. O'Malley is
considered the Pope's closest church aide in the U.S., and he has taken
strong conservative stands on issues like abortion.
"This
is extremely important. It is as dramatic as the bishops can get," said
Carr. "Washington is isolated from reality, and the church is reminding
them that people's
lives are being torn apart."
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