Paris, France, Apr 25, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A
number of France’s major church leaders, including Cardinal Jean-Pierre
Ricard, President of the French Bishops Conference and Archbishop of
Bordeaux, have sent a letter to the government expressing concern over
the drafting of a bill to reform the country’s immigration law. The
bill is scheduled to be debated in parliament.
In the April
22nd letter, the church leaders criticize a project that will implement
selective immigration, allowing only the well-qualified and educated.
“The existence
of undocumented aliens”, they wrote, “is an undeniable reality that
amounts to more than hundreds of thousands people. Can we just offer
them to go back to their homelands, by force or by will?” ...The
weakest will be brought to desperation.”
“We deem this as
both unrealistic from a practical point of view and problematic on a
human scale,” they continued. “We therefore regret that this draft only
contains measures that would have the effect of restraining the
possibilities to regularize the situation of these aliens.”
On April 24,
another letter was sent to the government by the country’s director of
Catholic Charities, Jean-Pierre Richer, who, along with other
associations, expressed concern over the issue. That letter was
entitled, “We cannot compromise with immigrant’s rights.”
“We find in this
text the same spirit of a similar law ten years ago; just a
multiplication of obstacles that prevent immigrants to obtain a
resident permit,” said Jose Da Silva, director of the national service
for the pastoral care of migrants at the French Bishops Conference.
