Catholic Democrats leverage pope's visit to push for admitting more Syrian refugees
Lawmakers hope pontiff's moral authority will overcome growing anti-Muslim sentiment.
Catholic Democrats are invoking the pope's moral authority as they make the case for the United States to resettle more refugees from Syria and elsewhere.
The lawmakers are leveraging the pontiff's upcoming visit to call for the United States to do more amid a growing migration crisis that has overwhelmed the Middle East and Europe. The White House said Sept. 10 it would seek to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees next fiscal year, up from 1,293 this year, while increasing the total number of refugees beyond the current 70,000 per year.
"Many in Washington are looking forward to a visit later this month by Pope Francis, who just this week asked the faithful throughout Europe to shelter refugees fleeing ‘death from war and hunger,'" Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement on Sept. 9 following congressional briefings by Secretary of State John Kerry as part of his department's annual review of resettlement needs. "In the United States, we can do the same thing. We can respond, as we have before, with meaningful action that is worthy of a nation of immigrants with by far the largest capacity to act, as the world expects us to. I urge both the administration and leaders in Congress to do just that.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is also Catholic, made a similar appeal on Sept. 10.
