Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1546997
M I G R A T I O N BY BISHOP JORGE RODRÍGUEZ More than a political question, migration is a human one, and often one with life-or- death ramifications. What should parents do when remaining home places their children in danger? Israel and his descendents f led famine (Gen- esis 41-47). The Holy Family f led danger and certain death (Matthew 2). In both experiences, salvation history involved migration, closely tied to the experiences of those forced to f lee. This connection between migration and life matters. The moral and life issues identified by the United States bishops are not isolated from one another; each flows from the inherent dig- nity of every human person, and the first prior- ity of defending human life. Human life is the source and foundation of all the other values. From the moment of con- ception, the human person needs their life to be nurtured, defended, cared for and provided with everything needed according to one's inalien- able dignity. The Church therefore defends the unborn while also caring for the poor, the sick, the dying, the persecuted and the immigrant. People have a right to remain and flour- ish in their homelands, and countries have a right to regulate their borders. Yet, when life is threatened by death, violence, war, persecution, misery, poverty and hunger, people have the right to migrate and look for refuge to save their lives. As the poem "Home" by Warsan Shire says, "No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." Migration becomes a practical way to respect human life in these cases, because it makes possible — under pre- cise conditions — a life lived according to God's design. As Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate reminds us, every migrant "possesses fundamen- tal, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance" (62). Catholic Social Teaching invites us to unite these values in a charitable solidarity, defending life even when we disagree with particular pol- icies. We must never let political issues obscure the dignity of the person before us. ⊲ 13 DENVER CATHOLIC | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2026