The Basics of Church Teaching on Immigration

"Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services." (Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963, no. 11)

"Every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the confines of his own State." (Pacem in Terris, no. 25)

"As regards immigrants and refugees, building conditions of peace means in practice being seriously committed to safeguarding first of all the right not to emigrate, that is, the right to live in peace and dignity in one's own country." (Pope John Paul II, Migration With a View to Peace, Message for World Migration Day, 2004, no. 3)

"When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men." (Pacem in Terris, no. 25)

"And among man's personal rights we must include his right to enter a country in which he hopes to be able to provide more fittingly for himself and his dependents. It is therefore the duty of State officials to accept such immigrants and—so far as the good of their own community, rightly understood, permits—to further the aims of those who may wish to become members of a new society." (Pacem in Terris, no. 106)

"The Church acts in continuity with Christ's mission. In particular, she asks herself how to meet the needs, while respecting the law of those persons who are not allowed to remain in a national territory. She also asks what the right to emigrate is worth without the corresponding right to immigrate." (Pope John Paul II, Undocumented Migrants, Message for World Migration Day, 1996, no. 3)

"...expression and movement, the possibility to satisfy basic needs such as food, health care, work, housing and education; the frustration of these needs forces many into a position where their only option is to emigrate." (Migration With a View to Peace, no. 3)

"Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2241)

"It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens and intermediate bodies. Human interdependence is increasing and gradually spreading throughout the world. The unity of the human family, embracing people who enjoy equal natural dignity, implies a universal common good. This good calls for an organization of the community of nations able to 'provide for the different needs of men...this will involve the sphere of social life to which belong questions of food, hygiene, education,...and certain situations arising here and there, as for example...alleviating the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their families.'" (Catechism, no. 1910-1911)

"The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin." (Catechism, no. 2241)

"It is necessary to avoid recourse to the use of administrative regulations, meant to restrict the criterion of family membership which result in unjustifiably forcing into an illegal situation people whose right to live with their family cannot be denied by any law." (Undocumented Migrants, no. 4)

"We can take a quick look at the difficulties that every migrant family lives through, the hardships and humiliations, the deprivation and fragility of millions and millions of migrants, refugees and internally displaced people. The Family of Nazareth reflects the image of God safeguarded in the heart of every human family, even if disfigured and weakened by emigration." (Pope Benedict XVI, The Migrant Family, Message for World Migration Day, 2007).