The American bishops are on the warpath. Similarly on the warpath are the Maltese independent media with the support of the President of the Republic, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. The reason for this indignation is similar: concern for the future of immigrants who, let us remember, are human beings like all of us.
This case highlights the role of the Church in the public sphere. It also emphasises the advocacy role of the media, a role that goes beyond that of an impartial transmitter of facts.
The American bishops proved themselves to be the defenders of the vulnerable. They showed that their pro-life stand goes beyond campaigns against abortion and euthanasia. They are pro-life throughout all one’s life.
The American bishops showed their belief in a Church that is assertively present in the public square. They did not mince their words. “Devastating”, “chaotic” and “cruel” were some of the appellatives used to describe President Donald Trump’s executive order.
This edict severely restricts immigration from seven Muslim countries, suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days, and bars all Syrian refugees indefinitely. It is so unjust that even permanent residents of the US (green-card holders) who were travelling overseas to visit family or for work were affected. It is so nonsensical that it adversely hits Iraqis who assisted the US army during the war in their country but says nothing of the citizens of 15 out of the 19 countries of origin of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.
Trump, who is very savvy with the use of words, titled the executive order “The Protection of the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”. Who can disagree with such a ‘noble’ aim? But that title is just another example of alternative facts that Trump excels in. The order does not protect the nation, it probably endangers it.
The American bishops were neither deceived by the ‘patriotic’ title, nor were they cowed by the accusation that they should not meddle in politics. Trump, it was said, was just fulfilling an election promise. On the contrary, Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego lambasted the executive action as “the introduction into law of campaign sloganeering rooted in xenophobia and religious prejudice”.
Truth be told, this electoral promise, like all the other promises made by Trump, was massively rejected by the American people. Trump is not the people’s president but the system’s president. More than three million people preferred Hillary Clinton to him.
Back to the use of harsh words. Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich described the order as contrary to both Catholic and American values, saying this was a “dark moment in US history”. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark attacked the order as being anti-American and as an act that is not rational.
These individuals have been forced to live in complete uncertainty, despite the roots they have developed and the contribution they have made to Malta over the years
It is to be expected that forays in the public square can elicit counter claims and criticism. There is nothing wrong with that. However, unlike what happens in Malta, no government-funded blogger is lambasting them and no trade union paper is denigrating them.
One could say that the American bishops are ungrateful. Trump says he is going to make an exception for Christian refugees. The bishops should applaud not criticise, some may have said.
Wrong. The bishops are not myopic bigots and consequently they strongly attacked that exception instead of praising it. Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the US Conference of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said all vulnerable people should be protected regardless of their religion as all “are children of God and are entitled to be treated with human dignity”.
If Trump thought that his exception would help Christians in the Middle East he is mistaken. Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, told Fides news agency that “ultimately [it] harms the Christians of the East, because among other things [it] provides arguments to all propaganda and prejudice that attack native Christian communities of the Middle East as ‘foreign bodies’, groups supported and defended by Western powers”.
The second aspect of this commentary is about the advocacy embarked on by the independent media in Malta to protect vulnerable immigrants.
The Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and Malta Today (later in the day RTK and Newsbook supported the initiative) ran a common editorial in support of those people who have had their Temporary Humanitarian Protection-New (THP-n) status removed.
Many of these will be unable, through no fault of their own, to get proper documentation for a residence permit. These individuals have been forced to live in complete uncertainty, despite the roots they have developed and the contribution they have made to Malta over the years.
Such a united front by the local English print media, which are competitors, is a rare occurrence.
I recall a similar action during the hunting referendum. Unfortunately on that occasion they did not succeed in swaying the majority of voters to their side. Will they now persuade the government to refrain from senselessly deporting the detained migrants from Mali who have been living in Malta for years?
The government’s reaction was rather muted, not to say dignified. Probably this was in deference to the President of the Republic who supported the media houses’ initiative though a post on Facebook, a phone call to the newsrooms and in a speech during a conference against extremism in Malta.
She really asserted her backing for this position. Many consider such an action as an unconventional but very laudable move which is in line with her constant defence of vulnerable people.
It seems this was the week for presidential unconventional but praiseworthy moves. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, turned up at one of the mammoth anti-corruption protests being held in his country. There were such protests in Malta and probably there will be others in the future.
One wonders what President Coleiro Preca’s next unconventional but commendable move will be?
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt