The Bishop of Ciudad Juarez urged the faithful Sunday to tear down the walls that have been built against migrants, exhorting them to lend their full support to migrants.
During his homily at Sunday Mass in the Ciudad Juárez cathedral, Bishop José Guadalupe Campos Torres lamented the conditions in which many Central American families travel in their efforts to reach the United States to achieve the American dream.
The bishop noted that a number of Guatemalan, Cuban, and Honduran migrants are already present in the city, and many are on the Santa Fe and Zaragoza bridges waiting to be called to apply for political asylum in the United States. Both citizens and authorities should lend the migrants their full support, he said.
On Saturday, Bishop Campos celebrated a border Mass together with El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, in which he offered a similar message.
“Tear down walls and help others, with the utmost respect,” he said.
The Mass was celebrated in nearby Anapra since a new wall is being built at the immediate border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso.
A number of the faithful attending the event wore t-shirts or waved banners with pro-immigration slogans such as: “We are all migrants,” “Nobody is illegal,” and “We are all Honduras.”
In February 2016, Pope Francis also celebrated Mass in Ciudad Juarez near the U.S. border and tickets were provided to Catholic parishes on both sides of the border for those who wanted to attend the Mass.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome.
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