Latino Media Wonder Will Pope Bring Immigrants Hope?

New America Media, News Analysis, Peter Micek, Posted: Apr 13, 2008

Editor’s Note: Hispanics are the future of the Catholic Church in the United States, and Spanish language media are waiting to see if the Pope will address their concerns on his maiden visit to the United States. NAM Hispanic media monitor Peter Micek has a round-up of Spanish language media on the eve of the papal visit.

As Pope Benedict XVI comes to the United States on his first papal visit, Spanish language media are wondering if he will bring up issues close to their communities – human rights, immigration, detention and deportation.

He’s made the right start. Archbishop José Gómez of San Antonio tells Spanish-language Rumbo in Texas that he was delighted the Pope included a paragraph in Spanish in a message preceding the visit. "Recognizing that almost 40 percent of the Catholics in the United States are Hispanic is very important for the Church, as is realizing that the future of the Church in the United States is the Hispanic community," says Archbishop Gómez.

Gómez wants the Pope to mention the topic of immigration during his trip to Washington and New York. "I don't know what he is going to say, but I believe the Pope will give a call for hope," says the archbishop. The current atmosphere regarding immigration will pass, Gomez believes. "The United States is a country that respects human rights and is a country of immigrants that will logically find a solution that will serve as an example for countries worldwide."

But other groups are less optimistic and want something more concrete from the Pope. Groups representing immigrants who have been deported or detained are asking Pope Benedict XVI to intervene for immigrant rights during his U.S. visit, reports Spanish-language EFE news in Univision Online.

In a letter to the Pontiff, Mexicans Without Borders writes Hispanic immigrants are scared and suffer "human and civil rights violations." Group spokesperson Ricardo Juarez says U.S. jails are full of Latino workers. He blames the failure of immigration policies on the hatred and racism fueling local and federal anti-immigrant laws.

He is going to bring a message of hope, says Fr. Lorenzo Ato, in a video interview by New York Spanish-language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa. The priest, originally from Peru, is on a preparation committee for the Pope's visit to New York from Apr. 18 to 20, including a speech at the United Nations and mass in the Yankees baseball stadium. Ato asks believers and non-believers alike to pay attention to the Pope's words and message, which aim to bring peace to the "fractured world" with its many conflicts.

Experts speaking to Texas paper Rumbo differ on the Pope's main purpose in the United States: promoting peace in a world marred by war, reflecting on the role of Christianity in modern times, or perhaps addressing the child abuse by clergy that have rocked the Church.

A fan of Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Gómez of San Antonio, says Pope Benedict XVI leaves a less open, more intellectual impression than the previous leader. Elected at 58 years of age, John Paul II brought great energy to the position. By contrast, Gómez notes, the current Pope turns 81 on April 16. He says the visit will help people to feel a more personal connection with the new Pontiff, by seeing him and hearing him up close.

A former theology student who knew the Pope when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger gives a more personal view of the pontiff in El Pregonero, the Washington, D.C., Catholic archdiocese’s Spanish language newspaper. Though he was the second most important Vatican figure, Dora Tobar writes, the Cardinal lived in a dormitory with other priests, including some of her friends. He was the only Cardinal there, because most high-ranking officials chose to live in private apartments rather than "employee" housing. When she got the chance to meet him in the dorm's cafeteria, she says, he struck a very elegant and tall, though timid figure.

The Pope is not coming to solve political problems, asserts the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Donald W. Wuerl in El Pregonero. "[The Pope] will be here to open peoples' hearts, to give us a message, each one of us, because every time he speaks, he teaches," says Wuerl.

The Pontiff's visit will reaffirm Catholics' faith and challenge them to be living proof of their beliefs, writes Pregonero director Rafael Roncal. The Pope will preside over a public mass in the Nationals Park baseball stadium. Diversity will be on display, Archbishop Wuerl says. Those watching around the world will see "the marvelous faces of every ethnic group where rich and poor fall into one single faith." The ministers, deacons and seminary students on the altar will reflect the diversity, as will the local community members bringing them offerings. The sermons will be delivered in both English and Spanish.

Also in the District of Columbia, on April 10, diverse groups defending the rights of immigrants petitioned that the metropolitan area be declared a "sanctuary city," according to Univision Online. Many cities have that status, which prohibits local authorities from cooperating with federal agents on immigration matters. Meanwhile, some 80 localities have approved laws opposing the arrival of undocumented immigrants.

The Pope is scheduled to tour the northeast from April 15 to April 20.



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