Catholic social teaching can be a very difficult topic, and it’s one that I still personally struggle with.

As you might have gathered from my political posts, I tend to lean more to the right than the left. The party line in the United States is that illegal immigrants are bad and worthy only of deportation. Of course, Catholic social teaching emphasizes something very different than that, asking us to care for the migrant workers.

• “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Ex 20:21)
• “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 19:9-11, cf. Num 15:30)
• “You shall have the same rule [of law] for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 24:22)

Or, in summary, “Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:19). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens. (para. 2241)

All of this typically goes against the normal right-wing position within the politics of the United States, and Catholics can find ourselves outliers if we are aligned with the Republican party for this reason.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen compared the sanctity of life to a seamless garment that begins at conception and runs through to natural death. At no point may we fold or tear that garment, not before birth (abortion) or after birth (murder). But neither may we sully the garment by failing in our duties to take care of our fellow men.

This is a topic that requires so much more than a short post to unpack. I would recommend this book, which I have been discussing with my fellow Lay Dominicans at meetings. This has been a boon in aiding my own understanding of Catholic social teachings.