A simple message of congratulations. In a statement published Wednesday, November 6 on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), its president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, welcomed the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. “Now we are moving from campaigning to governance,” he indicates.
And if relations between the American episcopate and the practicing Catholic Joe Biden were notoriously bad – notably because of his support for abortion – we should not expect the bishops to be lenient towards the views of the president-elect. “The Catholic Church is not affiliated with any political party, nor is the conference of bishopswarns Mgr Broglio. No matter who occupies the White House or has the majority on Capitol Hill, the teachings of the Church remain unchanged. »
After the wishes and prayers for the new elected official, the president of the USCCB therefore recalls certain points in his message. The United States is “blessed with many gifts”, he affirms, and must as such “caring about those outside our borders and being willing to offer help to all”.
Behind the words, there is a first warning to Donald Trump, who largely led his campaign on the promise of drastically reducing immigration. There “defense of the common good”insists the one who is also bishop to the armies, goes through the promotion of “dignity of the human person, especially the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, foreigners, the elderly and infirm, and migrants”.
The fears of the Jesuit refugee service
In a separate statement, Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, also alluded to Trump's promises regarding migrants. “We must never tire of living our tradition of serving the needy, welcoming strangers, respecting the dignity of human life, caring for the planet and supporting all those who live on the margins of society”, he writes.
These fears regarding the migration policies announced by the future Trump administration were also expressed by the American branch of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). In a statement, the service “urges the new administration to honor the United States’ historic role as a proud nation of immigrants.” JRS thus calls for rejecting “the anti-immigrant position that has become popular in different parts of our country”.
“Throughout the 2024 campaign, the rhetoric of Mr. Trump and his allies has created danger for asylum seekers and other lawfully present foreign nationals,” regrets the Jesuit service. “As an organization expressing our Catholic faith through our work, JRS-USA believes that welcoming, accompaniment, service and advocacy for displaced people are obligations. »
