Georgetown Panel Promotes Humanitarianism Over Catholic Social Teaching
The Catholic News Agency portal (December 5, 2025) reports on a Georgetown University panel discussion titled “Making Life Unbearable: The Impacts of Immigration Enforcement on Families and Communities.” Speakers from organizations like Iskali and Ayuda presented emotional narratives about Latino communities experiencing fear due to mass deportations, while decrying enforcement actions near “protected spaces” like churches. The article omits any substantive engagement with Catholic social teaching on the duties of states and individuals, instead framing immigration enforcement as inherently unjust. This one-sided advocacy exemplifies how post-conciliar structures substitute sentimentalism for doctrinal truth.
Naturalism Masquerading as Compassion
The panelists’ arguments rest on a purely naturalistic worldview that reduces human dignity to earthly comfort while ignoring the ordo caritatis (order of charity). Roxana Rueda Moreno laments families “living in constant fear and anxiety” but never addresses whether these individuals violated just immigration laws. The Syllabus of Errors condemns such emotional manipulation: “Justice is to be observed even to the excluded” (Pius IX, Proposition 63). True Catholic charity demands we distinguish between deserving refugees and those who knowingly break laws – a distinction absent from this discussion.
“We are holding onto each other as much as we can and we are choosing to live in hope, because that’s where we can stand from now.”
This therapeutic language replaces supernatural hope with collectivist sentiment. Pius XI in Quas Primas teaches that Christ’s Kingship brings order to nations precisely through adherence to divine law: “Rulers and legitimate superiors…ought to use their authority religiously.” The panel’s refusal to acknowledge the state’s divine mandate to enforce borders constitutes rebellion against the social reign of Christ the King.
Subversion of Catholic Social Doctrine
Paula Fitzgerald’s claim that “ICE’s presence at courthouses” is problematic directly contradicts the Church’s teaching on the state’s exclusive competency in temporal affairs. Leo XIII’s Immortale Dei affirms: “It is not lawful for the State to disregard the laws of justice in its dealings with citizens.” The panel’s suggestion that churches become sanctuaries against lawful authority perverts the Church’s spiritual mission into political activism – a tactic condemned in Pius IX’s condemnation of “false charity” (Proposition 64).
The article’s reference to U.S. bishops opposing “indiscriminate mass deportation” reveals the conciliar sect’s doctrinal bankruptcy. Pre-Vatican II teaching recognizes no “right” to violate immigration laws, as Pius XII clarified: “Political communities have the right to protect their members’ legitimate prosperity” (Exsul Familia). The panel’s silence on immigrants’ moral obligation to respect host nations’ laws constitutes a grave omission of Catholic truth.
Omission of the Supernatural
Nowhere do panelists mention the eternal consequences of illegal border crossings – particularly the danger of dying in mortal sin while defying lawful authority. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that obedience to lawful superiors is a divine precept: “Subjects must obey their rulers as the ministers of God.” By ignoring the spiritual dimension, the discussion reduces suffering to mere psychological distress rather than addressing the state of souls.
The panel’s proposed “solutions” – interfaith coalitions and political activism – exclude the only true remedy: conversion to Catholic truth and sacramental life. As St. Augustine wrote: “There is no true justice except in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ” (City of God, II.21). Until nations recognize Christ’s social kingship, no immigration policy can achieve true justice.
Georgetown’s promotion of this event exposes its apostasy from Catholic identity. Once a bastion of Jesuit orthodoxy, it now platforms speakers who substitute humanitarian slogans for the Church’s perennial social teaching. This tragic devolution fulfills Pius X’s warning in Pascendi about Modernists “corrupting the very conception of Christianity” through emotional appeals divorced from doctrine.
Source:
Leaders in Latino communities say mass deportation causes ‘fear and anxiety’ (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 05.12.2025