"There are pages of the Bible that we can't just tear out," said Bishop Georges Pontier of La Rochelle, France, referring to a verse where Jesus says "I was a stranger and you took me in."
In recent weeks, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox clerics have stepped up to defend immigrants in France, Britain and Belgium. In America, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles has been a vocal advocate for legalising unregistered migrants.
Many immigrants such as Mexicans in the United States or Poles in Britain are practicing Catholics who are refilling pews left empty by decades of secularisation in the rich West, critics say.
But Christian leaders have raised their voices in countries like France and Germany, where most immigrants are Muslims, where local Muslim leaders have welcomed their support.Amid prayers in six foreign languages on Monday in London’s Westminster Cathedral, Murphy-O'Connor drew cheers at a mass for over 2,000 immigrant workers when he told them: "As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, you are Londoners ... We want you to know that you belong."
Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, about 250,000 Poles have moved to Britain. Britain now plans to introduce a points-based immigration system to limit entry to more skilled workers.
Last week, Catholic and Protestant leaders Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard and Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont of France argued for changes against a new immigration bill in a meeting with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. This brought a victory to the Council of Christian Churches in France, which broke through the bill that would cherry pick qualified workers while making family reunification more difficult and expulsion from France easier.
In Belgium, 119 asylum seekers were given residence
papers in late March following a hunger strike. They have been occupying churches around the country for months with the approval of local bishops. About 20 churches are now being occupied.
