Philip Pullella of Reuters was apparently overjoyed to report the comments of a Cardinal at the Vatican who graciously confirmed Pullella’s own belief in open borders. Pullella, who laments that “thousands of poor Mexicans risk their lives each year sneaking across the 2,000-mile border to seek jobs,” faithfully recorded the words of Cardinal Renato Martino as he spoke at a press conference today.
The good Cardinal, who referred to a proposed fence between the U.S. and Mexico as an “inhuman program,” told the assembled guests, “Speaking of borders, I must unfortunately say that in a world that greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall with joy, new walls are being built between neighborhood and neighborhood, city and city, nation and nation.” Since we are forced to assume that Cardinal Martino is in no way deceitful or dishonest, we are then forced to conclude that he is merely a poor student of history.
For the benefit of those who are in need of a refresher, the Berlin Wall was built by the East Germans (Soviet Union) to keep people from leaving, which they would have done in droves given the chance. Mexico is not building a fence to keep people from leaving – they are in fact encouraging people to leave, hence the need of a fence on the part of the United States to keep people from pouring in.
I dare say the Cardinal, who lives in an enclave that is heavily guarded by a mini-army of Swiss Guards and Vatican Gendarmes, would not take kindly to say, Muslim immigrants pouring into Vatican City and plunking down their bedrolls throughout the myriad rooms and hallways of the Apostolic Palace in preparation for permanent lodging.
I am a Roman Catholic however I disagree with the Cardinals conclusions. We ( U.S. ) do not propose closing our borders. All we want to have is legal immigration. In this day of age of terror we do need to monitor those who come into this country. It is not fair for those immigrants who go the legal route either.