Five Principles That Guide
How the Church Views Migration Issues
 
Persons have the right to find opportunities in
their homeland.
Pope John XXIII: “Again, every human being has
the right to freedom of movement and of
residence within the confines of his own State.”
(Pacem in Terris, no. 25)
 
Persons have the right to migrate to support
themselves and their families.
Pope John XXIII: “When there are just reasons
in favor of it, he [she] must be permitted to
emigrate to other countries and take up
residence there.” (ibid)
 
Sovereign nations have a right to control
their borders.
Pope John XXIII: “Nations must place limits on
immigration, but they have an obligation to
promote the universal good.  For more powerful
nations, a stronger obligation exists.”
 
Refugees and asylum seekers should be
afforded protection.
Pope John Paul II: Concern for refugees must lead us
to reaffirm and highlight universally recognized
human rights, and to ask that the effective recognition
of these rights be guaranteed to refugees…Thus it is
 a matter of guaranteeing to refugees the right to
establish a family or to be reunited with their
families: to have a stable, dignified occupation
and a just wage; to live in dwellings fit for human
beings; to receive adequate health care…
(Lenten Message, 1990)
 
The human rights and the human dignity of
undocumented migrants should be respected.
Pope John Paul II: [The Church in America must be
a vigilant advocate, defending against any unjust
restriction the natural right of individual persons
to move freely within their own nation and from
one nation to another.
 
Attention must be called to the rights of migrants
and their families and to respect for their human
dignity, even in cases of non-legal immigration
(Ecclesia in America, no.65)