Pope: Vatican Will Shelter 2 Families Fleeing War, Hunger
VATICAN CITY — Sep 6, 2015, 2:30 PM ET
By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated PressThe Vatican will shelter two families of refugees who are “fleeing death” from war or hunger, Pope Francis announced Sunday as he called on Catholic parishes, convents and monasteries across Europe to do the same.
Francis cited Mother Teresa, the European-born nun who cared for the poorest in India, in making his appeal in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square.
“Let a Muslim mob Occupy Vatican City? Are you loco? I’ve got too many Nice Things.
You people deal with them in your own tacky parishes!”
“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing death by war and by hunger, and who are on a path toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be neighbors to the smallest and most abandoned, to give them concrete hope,” Francis said.
It’s not enough to say “Have courage, hang in there,” he added.
“May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe host a family, starting with my diocese of Rome,” Francis said. He also asked bishops throughout Europe to have their dioceses take up his call to “express the Gospel in concrete terms and take in a family of refugees.”
The Vatican is a tiny city-state and some of its citizens, including families with children, live in apartments inside its ancient walls. It has two parish churches, including St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis said two of the Vatican’s parishes will welcome two refugee families, but did not give details.
“Sorry, not much room at the Vatican inn,” says Pope Francis
A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, quoted the pope’s chief alms-giver as saying the Vatican is now deciding which families will be hosted.
He has chosen mercy as the overarching theme of his papacy. Practicing what he preaches, he has already made free showers at the Vatican available to Rome’s homeless and has barbers available for haircuts for the needy, among other initiatives.
Thousands of migrants and refugees, many fleeing war and persecution, have streamed into Germany and Austria over the weekend after being stuck in Hungary for days.
Italy has nearly 120,000 people who were brought to its shores after rescue at sea and who are hoping for asylum in Europe.
An Italian cardinal calculated that the parishes in the predominantly Roman Catholic country could practically host them all.
With more than 27,000 parishes, if each parish hosted a family of four, more than 108,000 people would have shelter.
But not in the Pope’s own separate country, which has way too many Nice Things to let a mob of Muslims youths hang out there.
Really, now!
Considering that Vatican City has a population of only about 900 people, receiving two refugee families is not disproportionate for them. Countries with ten thousand times that many people could perhaps receive 20,000 families, all things remaining proportionate. But check my math — I’m not good at numbers.
What’s been wondering me, though, is that this massive wave of refugees appears not to want to go to Turkey or Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Lebanon or to any of the gulf states — all places with a majority muslim population. Rather, they seem to prefer to immigrate to traditionally christian nations in western Europe.
My instinct is that there’s something very, very wrong buried deep inside this phenomenon, but I can’t begin to guess what it is.
Still, the kindness of christian Europe — even the Vatican — is wonderful to see. Maybe Europe isn’t so truly and thoroughly postchristian as we’ve heard….
But then I (cynically) thought: Maybe the muslim plan is to outreproduce and eventually outnumber the christian populations in their hosting lands, and vote in Shari’ah when they become the majority.
Is such a thing imaginable?
Lord, have mercy on me and on us all.
Of course it is. The most common new-born baby name in London and Brussels is Mohamed (or variations thereof). The only people who have slowed down a bit this demographic bomb are the French, who have constructed a tax structure that encourages rich and educated people to have kids.
Islamics and Mexicans in a population race. Perhaps the Mexican can take the West and leave the East to the Islamics with the Blacks crying, can’t we all just get along. 800 FEMA camps and 2 1/2 billion dum dum ammo.White’s don’t count, and they can’t jump,but they sure can shoot straight. Babylon the Great, will be thrown down with violence.The Dow lost 1000 points in 6 minute last week. A full scale panic would take about and hour, exactly what Christian Holy Scripture predicts. Death via computer algorithms . Best to obey the Vision, get right with the Only Holy One. getting Victory over the beast. Now is the time to do it.
anonymus per Scorilo,
not only do you distain Romanian emigrants, you don’t like Syrian emigrants either. Xenophobia and nativism seem to be your calling cards. Says a great deal about your dislike of +Ireinu. You should be ashamed.
I do not disdain Romanian emigrants, as I am one myself 🙂
Neither do I dislike +Irineu as a person. The only thing I dislike is the ethnic-style-church style that has been responsible for losing more than 90 percent of the youth of Romanian Churches for the past 100 years, and the people who behave as if nothing happened and continue happily in the same vein.
If you want an example of that you can listen to a bit of +Irineu’s sermon in the Romanian TV video I posted in another thread: “we are here in America, at the end of the world, far away from the country in which we were born.” These kind of messages and this style drive away from the Church all the young people who do not feel America is “at the end of the world,” but rather Romania is.
“Nativism”
Since when do the Nationals of any country have a right to be in any country but their own?
The words “nation” and “native” comes from the Latin natus –birth.
Muslims and Christians alike, have had it with “tribal mentality” and want a more stable existence. They can only get that in Europe. It’s that simple. Eventually, I think we’ll see the refugees in the Gulf states move to Europe, as well.
When you’re walking across a hot desert, with young children in tow, the idea of procreating to take over the world is probably not foremost on your mind. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, though. These people probably WILL become a (if not the) predominate population in Europe. However, there is a good chance they will embrace more Western values, as they have witnessed, first hand, the fruits of radicalization and the destruction that ensues. Seemingly, they want no part of it or they’d stay and embrace it, instead of flee.
Gail, that’s naive. It’s probably true of Syrian Christian refugees but highly unlikely of Syrian Muslim refugees.
How do we know? Just look at the facts on the ground at present: The problem with Europe at present is the fact that the already-there Islamic immigrants have done everything but assimilate.
We’re talking honor killings, female genital mutilation, butchery of animals, harassment of native white women, grooming/mass-rape of white girls (cf Rotherham), the creation of no-go areas in the major European cities, etc.
RE: “The problem with Europe at present is the fact that the already-there Islamic immigrants have done everything but assimilate. . . We’re talking honor killings, female genital mutilation, butchery of animals, harassment of native white women, grooming/mass-rape of white girls (cf Rotherham), the creation of no-go areas in the major European cities, etc.”
There are MANY problems with Europe. On that we agree; however, previous immigrants were not fleeing their native countries to escape bloodshed like the new influx. These are different people with different motives. If they were into Sharia law, why would they leave?
As an aside, do you remember that song, “Rock the Casbah,” by the Clash? I love that song. I’m surprised there isn’t a fatwa on the band. (Need to lighten it up sometimes, George.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ
On a more serious note, honor killings, genital mutilation, etc. are all perpetrated by men. Maybe we should kick all men out of Europe! Logically, that makes about as much sense as targeting all Muslims. Actually, it makes MORE sense, as violence against women and girls is not confined to a specific culture, region or country, or to particular groups of women within a society. The roots of violence against women lie in persistent discrimination against women everywhere. Millions of women and girls worldwide suffer violence, be it domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation/cutting, dowry-related killing, trafficking, sexual violence in conflict-related situations, or other manifestations of abuse. Violence against women is extensive across Europe with one in three women reporting some form of physical or sexual abuse since the age of 15 and 8% suffering abuse in the last 12 months.
To disproportionately attribute violence against women to a specific population is myopic, George. Where’s the outrage against your own sex?!
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/mar/05/violence-against-women-european-union-physical-sexual-abuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/men-killing-women-domesti_n_5927140.html
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/endviol/
Gail, the only men in Europe who are perprating these quaint customs are Muslim men, not European Christian men (or even neo-pagans for that matter).
Well, secularists are already “outreproducing” Christians within European countries. It’s easy to read your subtext — which is you’re worried about them outbreeding whites.
The Christian approach isn’t to worry about who is “outreproducing” whom, but rather to bring everyone to Christ, no matter who they are or where they’re from.
Mark E. Fisus said: It’s easy to read your subtext — which is you’re worried about them outbreeding whites.
Mr. Fisus,
The majority of the migrants are from Syria with a small number from other countries. Have you not watched them on television or internet? They appear to be what most of us would call “white” people. Your attempt to label whites as non-whites, then scream racism is absurd.
That’s probably because he’s a liberal.
Tiny Lebanon has over a million Syrian refugees.
Turkey has almost two million Syrian refugees.
Jordan has over 600,000 Syrian refugees.
In short, its surrounding neighbors have absorbed over 4 million people.
There is certainly plenty of criticism being directed at some of the wealthy Gulf states for not doing much, especially the Saudis. This does not mean that countries which are partially or predominantly Muslim haven’t also been taking people in.
My instinct is that there’s something very, very wrong buried deep inside this phenomenon, but I can’t begin to guess what it is.
The obstreperous, demanding attitude of the migrants, as well as their bursts of physical protest (eg. blocking rail lines), betray the nature of the phenomenon, and should be considered foretokens of a very ugly future. Sadly, a few decades of teaching political correctness has left the Europeans defenseless.
We are amused! Oh, I don’t know, I think it is just better to totally ignore Rome and build up the Church from within. However, it is a far cry from the remedy advocated in Shoes of the Fisherman.
Vatican City has a population of 451. If the Vatican takes in two families, lets say nine individuals total, that is equal to 2% of the population.
If the US took in 2% of its population as refugees, that would be 6.37 million people.
Given the modus operandi of Francis, one can assume that the families taken in will, in fact be living in close proximity to the Pope.
You shame yourself with this post, sir.
Ouch! OK, can we send these migrants to your city? Pretty soon you’ll be hearing the Call to Prayer from a minaret near you.
My sarcasm towards the Pope is predicated on his unwillingness to defend the borders of Europe. Compare and contrast this with one of his predecessors, Pope Paul IV, who called all Europe to arms to defeat the Turkish navy at Lepanto.
If he’s so concerned about this “humantarian” crisis, then he should have importuned on the rich of the world (esp the Gulf Arabs) to raise the necessary funds to divert this migration to a place that could accommodate them. I’m thinking Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, etc. With fund and start-up capital, these refugees could have provided much needed infusion of dollars to these desperate economies. Instead, a jihadi pipeline is now open to Europe and their teetering economies are on the verge of collapse.
PS. The father of the little Kurdish boy who drowned already had settled his family in Bodrum, Turkey, where he was gainfully employed. He merely wanted to go to Germany to get better dental care. The blood of his son is upon him.
As far as I’m concerned, yes. I’m sorry they wouldn’t be welcome in your neighborhood. That is to your shame. If you are going to write a “Christian” blog, perhaps you should view the parable of the Good Samaritan as an ideal to live up to, not something to wipe your ass with. Might I at least suggest taking the oldest, most ancient pages from the Vatican archives to do so with?
Your sarcasm is concern trolling originated by racists to try and deflect from their own debased morality and dehumanization of people in suffering. Which is utterly and completely transparent by your own words and example. Your sarcasm isn’t because the Pope is, in fact, personally engaging in the action that he is calling upon the entire Catholic Church, to engage in, but rather that he isn’t exhorting a navy to make sure all the children drown instead of just some of them.
Gobsmacking. Your use of quotes around “humantarian” can only be interpreted as the infamous air quotes, signifying the term being used is profoundly incorrect. As if the crisis does not in fact deserve that label. A crisis with millions of afflicted and displaced families. Gee, I wonder why George “barbarous races of the world” Michalopulos would use such quotes.
In Mr. Michalopulos’s version of the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan used a new web app to crowd fund other people’s money to outsource care of the ailing man in the finest of third world slums without even slowing down in his Lexus.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, is mobilizing the resources he has in the areas where the church has the most of them, in areas that are some of the wealthiest in the world. And you think he should be shaking down other people for cash and shuffling people off to Zimbabwe?
Past a certain point I’m not sure you really read what you write or even understand the implications of what you are saying. Your blog is truly an astounding refutation of the concept of grace and a better advocate for atheism than Dawkins/Hitches/Harris et. al the “New Athiests” could ever dream of writing. So hats off to you for that accomplishment.
OK, you win. Let’s send the jihadis and Muslims to your neck of the woods to set up shop (you know, get on Welfare, have many wives, stay unemployed, continue to get radicalized in Saudi-supported mosques) and we here in Oklahoma will take the Christian refugees. (You know, the ones that will take the first job available, raise stable families, send their kids to grad school, etc.)
Deal?
George writes, “If he’s so concerned about this “humantarian” crisis, then he should have importuned on the rich of the world (esp the Gulf Arabs) to raise the necessary funds to divert this migration to a place that could accommodate them.”
George, what makes you imagine that the Syrians—-many of them Christians—would want to go to, or would be accepted by, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States?
Would you?
Fr, I’m operating under the assumption that the overwhelming portion of the Syrian refugees are Muslim. My point is why don’t they migrate to Muslim countries?
At the risk of being importunate, I firmly believe that what we are seeing is the creation (if not the replenishment) of a jihadi pipeline to Europe.
And while something should be done, we must also ask why has this happened? Is it because Obama refused to negotiate a status-of-forces agreement for Iraq? Many would say “yes.” Others would say it’s because we destabilized the region when we took out Saddam. Both arguments have merit.
My take is perhaps we should have adhered to Rudyard Kipling’s dictum: “For East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet…”
George,
Your pithy statement that “he merely wanted to go to Germany to get better dental care” and the “pretty soon you’ll be hearing the call to prayer” line are so unbelievably insulting and callous this will probably be my last trip to your website. My gosh, for such an educated man, I can’t even believe you would write such garbage. Man, you have to turn off your right wing radio station once in a while.
Did you speak to the dad? Is that how you know he uttered those words and just those words? Did you sit down and have a cup of tea with him and that’s when he relayed this to you? George, you completely lost my respect for you with those stupid, ignorant statements.
And you are probably asking yourself, who is the jerk to question my statements, right? I am just a guy who has met a number of these people personally. The vast majority of them simply want to have the same things you have in life: a job, a roof over their heads, a decent school for their children to attend. When you dehumanize them with nasty comments like yours, you become a monster. These people have names. They didn’t just pick up and leave Syria for the hell of it, they got out so they wouldn’t be stuck in a war zone or hell hole with no chance to escape. In case you missed it, there are millions of displaced people because of ISIS right now. The current number of displaced people right now is twice the number of the holocaust. For the record, I work with a relief agency that is trying to help these people. Yes, most of them are Muslim, but there are a number of Christians as well.
So obviously you don’t want Muslims in your neighborhood, I think we can safely assume this. But what about all the Christian teachings on helping the poor? Or in your book, does that mean you only help Christians who believe like you? If so, you know nothing about God. If you have kids, I wonder how you are going to explain your position to them in a few years when they look back in history. God bless Germany for doing the right thing. I truly hope that you see the light of day on this one, George, because from my vantage point you have it all wrong.
One of the principles of being a Christian is upholding good order and being a faithful servant to the sovereign. Neither can happen in a mass migration such as the one that is taking place.
Of course charity trumps all, but it must be prudential. That’s why I suggested raising monies to help them where they are at or to relocate them to places where there is need for human capital.
Just curious though: what should have been done with the Jewish refugees who left Europe after WWII? Should they have been welcomed in Palestine? I’d like a yes or no answer to this one. If it’s nuanced (like my solution to the Syrian refugee crisis, then I’ll know you’re not dealing in good faith).
Yes, the Jewish refugees should have been welcomed into Palestine. And Canada, and the USA and wherever else they fled to. No nuance here.
Thank you, Father John!
Just to be clear, despite the similarity of names, John Whitford may be a very distant cousin (being a member of the same family, but one of the branch that omits the “e”), we are not the same person.
Bye John.
Nate Trost said: Given the modus operandi of Francis, one can assume that the families taken in will, in fact be living in close proximity to the Pope.
The families will in fact be living within a complex labyrinth filled with clerics of deviant appetite. We have to hope that the families chosen will not contain boys or young men. For the first time ever, I fear for the safety of the young Muslims. A movie title comes to mind: Alien vs. Predator.
Tarring all clerics with the same brush is in bad taste. RC’s are not the only ones who have a bad track record on this issue. Teachers, coaches, doctors – you name it, they’ve done it. (N.B. – I’m a teacher, my brother is a doctor, the other coaches).
O,’ come an, He is not an autocrat and, being from the Greek tradition, you should know the meaning of the word. Next. How much empty residential space does the Vatican have? Calling it a city is a bit generous. It isn’t even a half square mile and already has a population of 842 people. What do you propose? Or are you just snarking for the sake of snarking?
Compare and contrast the Vatican with Papa Stratis (who recently lost his battle with cancer).
http://tracks.unhcr.org/2015/07/a-good-samaritan-in-greece/
The modern Mohammedans, checking their iPhones and waving their signs (written in English!) have succeeded in doing what Suleiman the Magnificent, with a vast army at his command, was unable to accomplish in the 16th century. They have breached the walls of Vienna. This is a humanitarian crisis alright – for the Europeans. I expect that during his visit to the U.S., the man in the white zucchetto will enjoin all Americans to cough up more cash and open wide for the Muzzie horde.
what about 20 middle eastern christian families – melkite, maroinite, syriac, chaldean, orthodox, armenian, assyrian, syriac, etc? would be a great gesture – does not need to be moslem —- t
he stereotype that all arabs are muslim, that is the problem – george – open your mind – too many people marginalize the middle eastern christian – as have the greeks – who have had a history of subjugating them ergo why the melkites were created, why is the patriarch of jerusalem not an arab, with arab bishops – we need to all get real here and we need to protect and create a safety net for our middle eastern christian brothers – even though they do not speak greek
Father James says, “Considering that Vatican City has a population of only about 900 people, receiving two refugee families is not disproportionate for them. Countries with ten thousand times that many people could perhaps receive 20,000 families, all things remaining proportionate. But check my math — I’m not good at numbers.”
I have been in Vatican City many times, and it is not large enough for 900 people to live there. It is about the size of a golf course. Most of the hundreds who work in Vatican City live elsewhere in Rome.
Father James appears to share my dislike of the cynicism in this article.
Someone else remarked, “he stereotype that all arabs are muslim.”
Yes, this bothered me, too. The news media seem to presume that these are all Muslims fleeing to Europe. This is way off.
George,
The United States let in 36 Syrian refugees in 2013. And percent of the U.S. population is that? You insult the gesture of the Vatican and said nothing about the United States’ absolutely pathetic offer of assistance (a refugee crisis it basically started I might add). How about using your web site to tell a bit of truth about this unbelievable tragedy of human lives instead of just insulting what was obviously a gesture of kindness.
Well, if the Germans want them whom I to say. Someone suggested that Germany is taking them in since it has a low birth rate and needs more labors to pump up the State Pension system.
What process does one go through to have a family stay with us here in America? How do we contact them? Anyone know??
Colette,
May God bless you for your charitable intent.
St. George Orthodox Church in Montreal has instituted a program to help welcome Syrian refugees, with the assistance of a certified immigration consultant named Dina Yaziji. Admittedly, Canada is much more welcoming of Syrian refugees than is the U.S. Nonetheless, Ms. Yaziji may be able to refer you to U.S.-based colleagues who may be willing to help.
George,
How many will you take?
Russia and America are mostly to blame. Bush Jr number 1.
For what it’s worth, the hotel wherein Pope Francis lives, Domus Sanctae Marthae, has 106 suites and 22 single rooms.
Credit where due. The Great Western Heretic is exhibiting Christ-like behavior.
How about we just stop arming the terrorists in Syria, and help the Syrian government end the civil war, so that Syrians can live in peace in their own country?
That would make too much sense Fr. Besides, since we believe in the Gospel of Democracy-uber-alles, it’d be impossible, since the only secular head of state in Syria is the dictator Assad.
Because instability means the destruction of Christanity in the Middle East. And this is apparently the goal of our foreign policy.
George, I am still appalled by the whole tone of this article and your subsequent comments.
These refugees are Syrians. Whether Muslim or Christian, they have lived together in harmony with one another for centuries. Their common enemy is the Turk. So you want them to flee to Turkey?
Where would you have them go, George? Which Muslim countries? Because of where they live in Syria, most of them have no way to reach Jordan. Lebanon has taken as many as possible already. You want them to book flights to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates?
Thousands of Syrians and Iraquis have fled to Chicago over the past decade. They are good citizens. They are all working. Chicago is a much better place because of them. I hope we can get another 25 thousand or so. It may lower our crime rate.
Honestly, George, your tone in this sequence is maddening!
Fr. Patrick, agreed. Reading this blog is like sifting for diamonds amidst the dirt. The diamonds are calling out “bishops behaving badly” and smoking out crypto-homosexualists. Unfortunately, most of it is tribal dirt — xenophobia, racism.
Michael that is silly. I been a restrictionists on immigration from Mexico for years. In fact Mexico needs to do is sell its oil fields off to western countries this would allow for development of jobs that pay what they get in the US. In fact before the lower oil price they were doing just that. That why either Perry or Cruz or even Bush would have been better than Donald Trump because they were involved in US oil companies drilling in Mexico much better than Trump wall because the reason they come here is the job market. In fact if oil goes back Mexico could do fracking. Also, if you don’t like the oil industry, two Canadian companies are mining for Lithium in Sonora Elon Musk of Testla is going to buy a lot of the Lithium for his electrical batteries in Nevada Granted, there is the drug cartels but that situation is similar to New York City was with the mob problem.
A lot of the xenophobia here is disgusting.
But there is something we can all agree on — the only long-lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis is to defeat ISIS.
Mark, I learned a long time ago when a lib/prog yells “xenophobe/racist/etc.” to your argument, it’s only because he can’t answer the charge.
Nations are part of God’s order this side of Eschaton. Otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have submitted Himself to their divinely-inspired hierarchy. Same goes for religious leaders as well. “Do as the Pharisees say, not as they do.” Hierarchies are inevitable and though they can never be perfect, they are better than chaos. St Paul said that the “king does not hold the sword in vain,” and that “we should pray for the emperor.”
Not only are we to have “good order” in our churches but in our polities as well. To break a nation simply because of a Hallmark-inspired sentiment is just short of evil.
Southern slaveowners also used the idea of a natural order to justify their subjugation of black slaves.
I suppose then you also view the Ottoman conquest and subjugation of Constantinople as part of the divine order.
Tell that to the American revolutionaries.
And if you believed that, you have conceded a point long used by Roman Catholics in support of papal supremacy.
Hierarchy always exists, though not always in ideal form. Marriage likewise always exists, along with adultery, spousal abuse, etc.
As Christians, traditionalists, or just plain conservatives we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater just because the ideal is not always met.
The American revolutionaries certainly “threw out the baby with the bathwater.” They destroyed multiple hierarchies — the one of the motherland over the colonies, the one of royalty over subjects. To the extent the old feudal aristocracy continued on in plantations in the South, that was destroyed during the Civil War.
Speaking of which, black slavery in the South was a hierarchy, of whites over blacks. This was the “natural order” of the South, destroyed by the North during the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction.
The point here is that the existence of a hierarchy has never been taken as its own justification. But that’s your implicit assumption. “That’s the way it is, because that’s the way it should be.”
Your idea of separate nations as part of God’s order echoes the trial judge who opposed interracial marriage in the Loving v. Virginia case: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”
Never mind that the existence of separate nations isn’t God’s work but man’s, due to his arrogance in building the Tower of Babel.
Mr Fisus, irony seems to escape you. Yes, the Revolutionaries did replace some “hierarchies” but certainly not all. They couldn’t, as it’s an impossibility. Hierarchies have always existed and will always exist, not only in this world but the next.
As the great Ronald Syme wrote, in The Roman Revolution:
“In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade …. “
And the difference between this, http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/the-new-american-slavery-invited-to-the-us-foreign-workers-f#.fxv3DXA3ZV, and slavery as it existed in the Antebellum is…what, exactly?
Migrant workers enter into those contracts by choice, not force. They are also allowed to keep their identity. The abuse of migrant workers, though not enforced, is still considered criminal. African slaves weren’t afforded any of those considerations.
Fortunately, our community (Jacksonville, FL) is poised to take in 2,000+ of the 10,000 Syrian refugees America has agreed to admit. We have a large and wonderful Syrian population here (3rd behind Detroit and Dearborn) with a majority being Christian (Orthodox and Catholic).
None.
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
I for one do NOT welcome our new Global overlords and their neo-feudalism. The only reason this is happening and nobody shutting it down is because of indifference. Apathy is the greatest sin.
Peter
While the Vatican may be the tiniest “country” in Europe, it is also probably the wealthiest.
They could easily afford to build a few apartment complexes for refugees … outside the walls, if necessity requires.
The Saudis take no immigrants, no ‘new citizens.’ The only way to get in Saudi Arabia (other than on a tourist visa) is a work permit, many of which are granted to Filipinos and other East Asians, mostly women, who are generally treated horribly. After all, Saudi Arabia is the country where, if a married man rapes a woman, the woman is put to death for ‘adultery.’
And, since the US is largely responsible, through wars in “its own self interest” for the refugee mess … and there are also refugees from Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq, is not the US morally responsible for the plight of the refugees? Europe and the US both yearn for cheap labor …