What has long been our nation’s proudest boast and motto, namely, “out of many, one” (e pluribus unum), must guide our attitudes, words and actions toward immigrants in this present day. Catholic social teaching begins with the premise that every person, regardless of nationality or legal status, possesses inviolable dignity and fundamental rights, as detailed in the seminal encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891). Every pope since has referred to this foundational teaching on the inherent rights of the working class, which also asserts the right of people to migrate, particularly when deprived of the dignity of having access to life’s basic necessities: food, work, safety, and the means to provide for themselves and build a future for their children. Pope Leo XIII explicitly condemned “the ideas of the totalitarian and the imperialistic state, as well as that of exaggerated nationalism” He maintained that “On one hand, in fact they arbitrarily restrict the natural rights of people to migrate or to colonize while on the other hand, they compel entire populations to migrate into other lands, deporting inhabitants against their wills, disgracefully tearing individuals from their families, their homes and their countries.”

In his 1952 encyclical, Exsul Familia Nazarethana, Pope Pius XII evoked the Holy Family’s exile in Egypt as a model for all refugee families, as well as the Church’s duty to care for migrants, regardless of the reasons for their displacement. He made clear that “…there never has been a period during which the Church has not been active in behalf of migrants, exiles and refugees.” Pius warned that neglecting the spiritual and material needs of migrants would create long-lasting and grave consequences, both for individuals and for society. He referred to the Holy Family as an enduring model meant to inspire compassion and solidarity, reminding the Church that every migrant is a child of God deserving of dignity and care. As such, Catholics are to regard migrants not as strangers but as true brothers and sisters. This requirement was further amplified by Saint John Paul II who, in his Message on Undocumented Migrants for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 1996, stated: “It is necessary to guard against the rise of new forms of racism or xenophobic behaviour, which attempt to make these brothers and sisters of ours scapegoats for what may be difficult local situations. … For Christians, the migrant is not merely an individual to be respected in accordance with the norms established by law, but a person whose presence challenges them and whose needs become an obligation for their responsibility.”

More recently, Pope Francis issued a rebuke and call to action in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti (“All brothers and sisters”), insisting that everyone—individuals, communities, and nations—bear responsibility for those who are excluded or “left by the roadside.” He made clear that the moral stature of a society is measured by how it treats the vulnerable. Francis further criticized a “throwaway” and “closed” culture marked by aggressive nationalism, racism, indifference to migrants, consumerist individualism, and a “culture of walls” that only serves to isolate people and engender fear of those we find different from ourselves.

In this new season of Advent, when our hearts and minds are filled with expectation of the One who comes to us disguised as a vulnerable child from a distant place, I urge all to reflect on our obligations to “the stranger” among us. Mindful that our ancestors were also “once aliens” in need of compassion, care, and opportunity, we must speak out for those who desire only the same, but whose voices seem not to matter, and whose basic rights—even as immigrants—are so callously cast aside. As a nation, we know in our hearts that we can and should do better. As Christians, we must.