Pope puts caring for migrants, opposing abortion on equal footing
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some catholics consider it a secondary issue compared to the grave bioethical questions1 caring for migrants and the poor is as holy a pursuit as opposing abortion pope francis declared in a major document issued by the vatican on monday morning1 pope francis again cast himself and the mission of the roman catholic church in a more progressive light1 the other harmful ideological error is found in those who find suspect the social engagement of others seeing it as superficial worldly secular materialist communist or populist pope francis wrote in an apostolic exhortation on the subject of holiness1 our defense of the innocent unborn for example needs to be clear firm and passionate. equally sacred however are the lives of the poor those already born the destitute the abandoned1 the popes vision of holiness explicitly highlights migrants whose plight he has sought to elevate to global attention perhaps more than any other issue1 we often hear it said that with respect to relativism and the flaws of our present world the situation of migrants for example is a lesser issue he said1 pushing back against conservative critics within the church who argue that the 81-year-old popes focus on social issues has led him to lose sight of the true doctrine1 that a politician looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable but not a christian he continued adding that welcoming the stranger at the door was fundamental to the faith. this is not a notion invented by some pope or a momentary fad1 the popes 103-page document an apostolic exhortation titled gaudete et exsultate or rejoice and be glad is less authoritative than a papal encyclical but is nevertheless an important teaching pronouncement1 at its outset francis makes clear that it is not meant to be a treatise on holiness but to re-propose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time1 as he put it elsewhere in the document seeing and acting with mercy that is holiness1 that statement is a distilled expression of francis vision of the church which is consistent with a view articulated by cardinal joseph l. bernardin the archbishop of chicago who died in 1996 and who called for a consistent ethic of life that1 read more athttpswww.nytimes.com20180409worldeuropepope-francis-migrants-abortion.html1