Europe is currently undergoing a crisis of illegal immigration from Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union. Many of those “seeking a better life” are Muslims, who are culturally quite unlike the persons they encounter in their new homes.

But interestingly, the Vatican has a different response about open borders closer to its home than it does for the United States. While Americans are urged to “welcome the stranger,” who is likely a foreign national from Latin America and therefore Catholic, the rhetoric in Italy is very different indeed.

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop of Bologna and considered a contender to be the next Pope, warned in a pastoral letter that Italy's Catholic identity was in danger from the influx of Muslims. He later stated that Islamic notions of family and the status of women were “incompatible with Italian culture” and that Islamic fundamentalists posed a threat to “Christian Europe.”

Contrast this attitude with that of Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony, who has urged that the U.S. reward foreign nationals illegally in the country with amnesty. Of course, the Archbishop would be increasing his market share by importing more Catholics — desirable from his point of view given the declining church attendance of American Catholics.

A few thousand miles does make a difference.

— B.W.