Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
The bishops of the Catholic dioceses along the Texas-Mexico border issued a joint statement in support of migrants and refugees.
They point to the urgent timing of it and said that the situation of migrants and refugees "has taken on new relevance with the new federal administrations in the United States and Mexico."
San Antonio Catholic Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said the Church will have to be more "creative," but it will continue to serve migrants and refugees.
"Under the present circumstances, our present position is to help always," he said. "To do good at all times and to anyone in need," he added.
He said San Antonio has long attracted migrants, referencing San Antonio's Spanish Colonial-era missions.
"San Antonio cannot be what it is, without the migrant community," he said.
The main part of the formal joint statement from the bishops read:
"We want to make it clear that the Catholic Church has always been a reliable partner of our governments, of our peoples and especially of all those in need, through processes to welcome, protect, promote and integrate the vulnerable, including collaboration in the resettlement of refugees to achieve their self-sufficiency."
In pointing out the responsibility human beings share to promote the common good, the statement also included the importance of "safeguarding the dignity of all by finding the right balance between various human rights, such as the right of workers and their families to have their situation regularized, the right to not be exploited, the right to migrate, the right not to need to migrate, and the right to have their government guarantee security in their own country."
The archdiocese has long been concerned about the issue of immigration and its many complexities and challenges. They add in the joint statement that for many decades, they have "expressed our concern that in the United States we have a broken immigration system, which does not correspond to the present reality. We hope and strongly urge our political leaders to fulfill their duty to reform it."
The bishops evoked the importance of following the words of Pope Francis in directly addressing migrants and refugees.
In that regard, the statement concluded with:
"To our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters, we want to say that the Church and its agencies remain committed to the mission of announcing the Gospel, providing living witness to the charity of the Lord Jesus by serving all people with dignity and compassion. Pope Francis encourages us and unites us as a Church and as a society to be inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan. (cf. Lk 10:25-37). In this task that concerns us all, we need God's help, and we count on the intersection of Our Lady of the Guadalupe."
Speaking on the Pope's health García-Siller, said the Pope has expressed gratitude for "our prayers" and "good wishes" in messages he has sent out from the hospital.
