The WSJ Takes on Tancredo (and Malkin)

The WSJ has long held an "open borders" stance, which means that their slap of Tancredo for his vile and ignorant comments about the Pope's thoughts on immigration are a bit self-serving. (Michelle Malkin also ran an equally shameful blogpost on the topic, ).

But the WSJ's comments are not necessarily wrong.

Pope Benedict XVI called on U.S. bishops last week to "continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home." Mr. Tancredo's response was to accuse the pontiff of "faith-based marketing" and claim that "the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church."

Please note that the Pope did NOT say "....welcome ILLEGAL immigrants..." nor does the Church's teaching endorse ILLEGAL immigration (despite the silly rhetoric from such as Cdl. Mahony of Los Angeles.)

But 'welcoming immigrants' is kinda sorta the right thing to do, no? Particularly if they are LEGAL.

The pope welcomes immigrants because he's Catholic, not because they are. He isn't "marketing" his faith. He's practicing it.

More to the point, here's a quote from John XXIII on the topic which puts the Church's position clearly:

Now, among the rights of a human person there must be included that by which a man may enter a political community where he hopes he can more fittingly provide a future for himself and his dependents. Wherefore, as far as the common good rightly understood permits, it is the duty of that State to accept such immigrants and to help to integrate them into itself as new members. (The red underlines the destination-State's rights vis-a-vis immigrants.)

Wherefore, on this occasion, We publicly approve and commend every undertaking, founded on the principles of human solidarity and Christian charity, which aims at making migration of persons from one country to another less painful...

I don't expect Tancredo to apologize; he's clearly in the "fixation" mode. Malkin hasn't, either--despite an intervention from a Milwaukee-area blogger/fan of hers.

Too bad.