05:00 PM PST (November 20, 2025) - N.S. EIC

ROME—The Vatican has issued a statement condemning the administration’s reliance on ICE, DHS, and CBP, citing the teachings of scripture that call for love, mercy, and aid to the stranger. “We are commanded to welcome the foreigner, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry,” the communiqué read, “and we cannot remain silent while policies of cruelty persist.”

The words rang out with the authority of centuries, though their timing was curious. Parish collections, particularly among the poorest congregations, have shown signs of strain.

It is the deprived, the ones at the bottom of the wealth ladder, who keep the baskets filled. Their coins, dropped with trembling faith, are the lifeblood of the institution. They are the ones most desperate for mercy, most vulnerable to the promises of salvation.

And so, when the Vatican speaks of compassion, it is not merely theology. It is also a reminder to its most reliable contributors that the Church stands with them, at least in principle.

The Church’s statement leaned heavily on the language of the Gospels: love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, care for the least of these. Against this backdrop, the administration’s policies, detention, deportation, separation, appear not only brutal but blasphemous.

The juxtaposition is stark. On one side, verses about mercy. On the other, checkpoints and cages. The Vatican’s condemnation, while couched in holy rhetoric, reads almost like a rebuke drafted by accountants who have noticed that cruelty does not play well with the faithful.

Whether the statement was born of scripture or of Sunday baskets, the effect is the same: the Vatican has positioned itself as the defender of mercy against the machinery of enforcement.

The submissive will continue to give, the Church will continue to speak, and the administration will continue to act.

And somewhere between the baskets and the border, love and mercy remain the most volatile commodities of all.

So as all the “faith leaders” grab the public eye standing out from the frightened, being hit with pepper balls in the face and tasers, keep in mind, they are doing what they must to fund the gold-plated halls of their bastions and life styles, not being the brave holy defenders of some fantasy as they would want you to believe. After all, there are far more righteous citizens who are placing their lives on the line daily in this civil war who will never prosper from it.