Category: History

Theodore Roosevelt’s Words of Wisdom for His Time and Ours

On October 27, 1913, Theodore Roosevelt had the following words of wisdom in his address entitled “Character and Civilization” in Sao Paulo, Brazil:[1]

  • “By character I mean the sum of those qualities, distinct from the purely intellectual qualities, which are essential to moral efficiency. Among them are resolution, courage, energy, power of self-control combined with fearlessness in taking the initiative and assuming responsibility, and a just regard for the rights of others together with unflinching determination to one’s self success no matter what obstacles and barriers have to be beaten down – these qualities, and qualities such as these, are what rise to our minds when we speak of a man or a woman as having character, in contradistinction to one who possesses only intellect. There is, moreover, one quality which perhaps, strictly speaking, is as much intellectual as moral, but which is too often wholly lacking in men of high intellectual ability, and without which real character cannot exist – namely, the fundamental gift of common sense.”
  • “No other trait, in any nation, can take the place of a high average of personal character among the individuals, the men and women, who make up that nation. I am a firm believer in using the power of the people in their collective capacity—that is, through the government—to the fullest extent to further the common ineterest; and I hold that the ability thus to co-operate in effective action is one of the greatest tests of the strength of individual character in a nation.”

Reaction

Thank you, Theodore Roosevelt for these Words of Wisdom.

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[1] Wednesday Wisdom, The Bully Pulpit, Theodore Roosevelt Center (Oct. 29, 2025).

 

 

President Trump Addresses the United Nations 

On September 23, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the U.N. General Assembly. Here is a report of what he said.[1]

“President Trump today urged world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to adhere to the U.N.’s original purpose — the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means.”

“Noting that he himself has ended seven conflicts in the first seven months of his administration, without hearing from the U.N., the president said the international body is not living up to its founding mandate to protect peace and security. ‘What is the purpose of the United Nations? the president asked . Acknowledging its ‘tremendous potential” to end wars or stop them from starting, he lamented that it is ‘not even coming close to living up to that potential.’”

“The president spoke of his desire for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the war in Ukraine. To applause the president said, ‘Release the hostages now’ to Hamas, demanding that it release remaining hostages — not a few at a time, but all at once.”

“While expressing his commitment to an end to the war in Ukraine, President Trump chastised countries funding the conflict by purchasing Russian oil, naming China and India as ‘primary funders’ and criticizing European countries for acting against their own ideals through their purchases. ‘Cease all energy purchases from Russia,’ he said.”

“Trump appealed to leaders of sovereign nations to protect their country’s borders against illegal immigration. ‘Every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders,’ he said.”

“He cited his administration’s successful efforts to stop illegal border crossings and reduce the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. His administration designated drug cartels, as well as the international gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.”

“In addressing economic security, the president criticized global climate pacts that harm economic development, noting that signatories are replacing traditional energy with renewables that are costly and ineffective. ‘The primary effect of these brutal green energy policies has not been to help the environment but to redistribute manufacturing and industrial activity from developed countries’ that follow the rules, the president said.”

The president heralded a chance for successful international cooperation in a potential verification system that will use artificial intelligence to enforce the biological weapons convention and stop risky research into bioweapons and man-made pathogens.

“’Hopefully the UN can play a constructive role,’ the president said.”

“Noting that the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary next year, Trump urged other world leaders to similarly honor their nations’ founders and protect their own traditions.

‘Every leader in this beautiful hall today represents a rich culture, a noble history and a proud heritage that makes each nation majestic and unique, unlike anything else in human history or any other place on the face of the earth,’ the president said.”

“’So, together, let us uphold our sacred duty to our people and to our citizens. Let us protect their borders; ensure their safety; preserve their cultures, treasure, and traditions; and fight, fight, fight for their precious dreams and their cherished freedoms,’ the president said.”

Comments

Trump correctly started with stating the U.N.’s “original purpose — the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means.”

He then claimed without details that “he himself has ended seven conflicts.” And he claimed, ‘Every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders,’ without mentioning the international right to asylum as a limitation on every sovereign nation’s right to control their borders.

His criticism of countries that bought oil from Russia as contributing to the Russian attacks on Ukraine and advocating the cessation of such purchases seemed over-stated in light of Trump’s friendship with Putin and his conflicting statements about Russia and Ukraine.

His criticism of global climate pacts seems overstated.

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[1] President Trump calls on the U.N. to reach its potential, shareamerica (9/23/25).

U.S. State Department Again Ranks Cuba in Tier 3 (the Lowest Ranking) of the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report

The U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Office “leads the Department’s global efforts to combat human trafficking through the prosecution of traffickers, the protection of victims, and the prevention of human trafficking by: objectively analyzing government efforts and identifying global trends, engaging in and supporting strategic bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, targeting foreign assistance to build sustainable capacity of governments and civil society, advancing the coordination of federal anti-trafficking policies across agencies, managing and leveraging operational resources to achieve strategic priorities, and engaging and partnering with civil society, the private sector, and the public to advance the fight against human trafficking.”

On September 29, 2025 , this State Department Office released its 2025 report on Trafficking in Persons.[1] that identified the following:

  • 33 countries in Tier 1 (including the U.S.) “whose governments fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;”
  • 52 countries in Tier 2 which “do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards (with certain exceptions);”
  • 25 countries in Tier 2 Watchlist “whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards (with certain exceptions . . .), and for which: the estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions; or there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials.”
  • 20 countries in Tier 3 (including Cuba) which “do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.”

The Report’s Discussion of Cuba[2]

 “The government of Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Cuba remained on Tier 3. During the reporting period there was a “government policy or pattern” of forced labor in the government’s labor export program, which included medical missions, from which the regime profited. Despite this the regime took some steps to address trafficking, including prosecuting and convicting more cases of trafficking crimes against children, identifying more victims, and amending the immigration law to improve coordination on victim protection. However, the regime recruited and deployed Cuban workers using deception and threats of retaliation. Cuba included exploitative and coercive elements in contracts and agreements signed with foreign governments for the hiring of Cuban workers, which allowed indirect and unfair payment schemes, wage confiscation, and arbitrary and disproportionate punishments. The regime exerted undue control over Cuban workers working in foreign countries and placed unreasonable restrictions on their movements that did not appear to align with international standards on the health and safety of workers. Regime authorities kept a significant amount of most workers’ wages, confiscated workers’ passports and professional credentials, did not consistently inform participants of the terms of their contracts, and subjected workers to surveillance and strict curfews. The regime did not demonstrate any efforts to change its policies and practices and continued to compel workers into service. The regime did not make efforts to investigate, prosecute, or convict cases of forced labor or sex trafficking involving adults.”

“Prioritized Recommendations for Cuba:

  • Cease threats and deceptive practices in the recruitment of Cuban workers deployed to foreign countries.
  • Ensure contracts and agreements signed with foreign governments for Cuban workers provide treatment that aligns with international law and labor standards.
  • Stop withholding workers’ wages and allow direct payment of wages to workers in line with what other foreign workers receive for similar work.
  • Eliminate disproportionate punishments outlined in existing disciplinary regulations and laws.
  • Stop subjecting workers to unreasonable restrictions on movement and association, including surveillance, arbitrary curfews, and limitations of international travel when it does not align with their health and security, and preventing workers from befriending locals.
  • Allow all civilian workers, including those who are regulated, to obtain and retain tourist passports in addition to official passports and stop confiscating documents needed to exercise freedom of movement.
  • Vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labor trafficking crimes to increase convictions and strengthen deterrence of traffickers.
  • Implement formal policies and procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims, including among vulnerable populations, refer identified victims to appropriate services, and train officials, including first responders, in their use.
  • Cease recruitment of children for military activities before the mandatory military service age.
  • Train those enforcing the labor code to screen for trafficking indicators and educate all Cuban workers about trafficking indicators and how to report trafficking-related violations.
  • Revise Article 363.1 of the penal code to remove the requirement to prove force, fraud, or coercion in child sex trafficking offenses.”

PROSECUTION

“The regime maintained prosecution efforts.”

“The regime criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking through various provisions of its penal code. Article 363.1 of the 2022 penal code criminalized all forms of labor trafficking and some forms of sex trafficking and prescribed penalties ranging from seven to 15 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving an adult victim and 10 years to life in prison for those involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The definition in Article 363.1 established the use of force, fraud, or coercion as an essential element of a trafficking offense, without including an exception for child sex trafficking cases. Thus, Article 363.1 did not criminalize all forms of child sex trafficking. However, Article 402.1 (“corruption of minors”) criminalized the use of a person younger than 18 “in prostitution” and prescribed penalties of seven to 15 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Article 176.1 prescribed penalties ranging from three to eight years’ imprisonment to regime-affiliated workers who did not complete a civilian mission in another country or did not return to Cuba upon completion of the civilian mission – thereby penalizing potential victims of labor trafficking.”

“In October 2024, the regime published its annual trafficking in persons report, which was the primary source of information on the regime’s anti-trafficking efforts and included official data for calendar year 2023 on prosecutions and convictions, the most recent data available. According to the report, the regime investigated 14 domestic trafficking cases, of which 13 were for sex trafficking and one for forced begging. Authorities prosecuted 20 alleged traffickers and convicted 19 traffickers in 2023. This compared with seven transnational trafficking case investigations involving eight Cuban traffickers and five foreign nationals, six prosecutions, and six convictions in 2022. According to regime reporting, sentences ranged from three to 20 years’ imprisonment. Authorities did not report investigating, prosecuting, or convicting any cases involving adult victims of trafficking. Authorities have not prosecuted or convicted any cases of labor trafficking since at least 2022.”

“The regime suppressed independent domestic sources, but some independent sources provided information on trafficking efforts and trends. According to an NGO, the regime banned independent organizations and civil society actors, including human rights activists, and individuals exposing abuses were threatened, persecuted, imprisoned, forced into exile and, in some cases, even killed or disappeared.”

“The regime organized and sponsored training for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges on investigating and prosecuting sex trafficking crimes. Authorities had 27 bilateral cooperation agreements or MOUs that included counter trafficking measures; however, the regime did not report tangible results associated with these agreements.””

Authorities in the Ministry of Justice continued to be complicit in state labor export schemes by prosecuting people who left regime-sponsored labor export programs due to exploitation and forced labor. While exact figures were not available, a 2022 case involving 17 Cuban regime-affiliated medical workers who were captured after attempting to escape a mission in Venezuela were likely prosecuted by regime officials. Anecdotal reports indicate some individuals who did not complete a mission faced imprisonment if they returned to Cuba. Regime officials intimidated and threatened the families of workers who did not complete a mission. Authorities did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of regime officials complicit in trafficking, despite persistent allegations that officials threatened and coerced participants to remain in the regime-sponsored programs in foreign countries.”

“PROTECTION”

“The regime maintained protection efforts.”

“The 2023 report produced by the regime, reflecting the latest year from which data was available, indicated authorities identified 14 child sex trafficking victims, all of whom were girls. This was compared with six victims in 2022, one woman and five girls. In previous years, the regime reported having procedures to proactively identify and refer sex trafficking victims to care. Authorities reported training law enforcement officials on victim identification; however, implementation of victim identification procedures was not consistent, and the regime relied on victims to self-identify. The regime did not report having procedures to identify forced labor victims. Regime- or communist party-organized and controlled NGOs, such as the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), the Prevention and Social Assistance Commission, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution could identify and refer trafficking victims to state authorities and provide some victim services, including psychological treatment, health care, skills training, and assistance in finding employment. However, these services were often politicized and unavailable to people the regime and/or Communist Party deemed subversive. There were three child and adolescent protection centers where underage trafficking victims could receive non-specialized services. The regime has not reported protecting any identified victims since 2021. Children receiving services in protection centers could use video testimony to facilitate support the prosecution of their traffickers, but officials did not report using these tools. In 2024, Cuba amended its immigration law, expanding protections for trafficking victims, including allowing regime authorities to request assistance from international organizations and NGOs for victim repatriations and preventing foreigners accused of human trafficking crimes from entering Cuba. The regime did not have any mechanisms workers facing exploitation or forced labor conditions could use to seek compensation for through Cuban labor unions or courts.”

“PREVENTION”

“The regime maintained prevention efforts.”

“The Cuban regime did not make sufficient efforts to prevent trafficking, particularly forced labor. In 2024, the regime approved the 2023-2024 NAP, which designated the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as the central authority responsible for coordination and implementation of anti-trafficking efforts outlined in the plan. The MOJ chaired two national working groups focused on combating trafficking crimes that were expected to convene every three months, according to obligations outlined in the NAP; it was unclear if regime authorities met in 2023. The regime reported using the NAP and published the annual report on anti-trafficking efforts covering 2023. Authorities held awareness sessions for regime employees, students, and tourist industry employees on the prevention and identification of crimes, including trafficking crimes. The regime and the FMC continued to operate a 24-hour hotline for individuals needing legal assistance, including sex trafficking victims; for the fourth year in a row, none of the calls to this hotline resulted in trafficking investigations or victim identification.”

“Regime media continued to produce newspaper articles and television and radio programs, including public service announcements, to raise public awareness about exploitation, including sex trafficking. The FMC raised public awareness through workshops and training with regime officials, social workers, educators, and students, as well as the distribution of materials explaining trafficking and its risks; however, there were no publicly available materials that showed the effectiveness or impact of these programs. The Ministry of Tourism provided training for workers in the tourism sector on the prevention of child commercial sexual exploitation and abuse. Authorities did not make any efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.”

“The Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MOL) did not make sufficient efforts to address forced labor. In 2023, MOL officials conducted 1,818 labor inspections, issuing more than 10,013 labor violations, but did not identify any cases of forced labor. The regime did not implement policies to prohibit the use of force, fraud, or coercion by foreign labor recruiters and regime-owned or controlled enterprises recruiting and retaining employees using forced labor. Regime law indicated males older than age of 16 must register with the country’s armed forces and prepare for mandatory military conscription starting at the age of 17; however, reports noted the regime’s involvement in the forced recruitment of children to serve in military community brigades. The revised immigration law removed clauses that previously punished Cuban nationals who didn’t return to Cuba within 24 months with loss of property rights; however, the restriction remained in place for regulated civilian workers who did not complete an international mission; preserving an intimidation measure Cuban authorities used to coerce regime-affiliated workers into service.”

“TRAFFICKING PROFILE”

“Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes the regime and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba, and traffickers exploit victims from Cuba abroad. Sex trafficking, including commercial sexual exploitation and abuse of children by foreign visitors, occurs within Cuba. Traffickers exploit Cuban citizens in sex trafficking and forced labor in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Latin America, and the United States. Traffickers exploit foreign nationals from Africa and Asia in sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts. The regime identified children, young women, elderly, and disabled persons as the most vulnerable to trafficking.”

“Cuban citizens reported being recruited by Russia-affiliated private military companies or by the Russian military with fraudulent employment contracts to be later coerced to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war. For example, two young Cuban men reported being deceptively recruited to work in Russia as construction workers; however, upon arriving in Moscow, they were allegedly coerced into fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russian military forces. According to contacts, Cuban authorities allegedly expedited the issuance of passports to recruits, who had minimal income and no means to pay for travel independently, and Cuban authorities purposefully declined to place exit stamps in the Cuban potential victims’ passports to claim no knowledge of their travel. Months after the regime allegedly took action against those facilitating trafficking to Ukraine, credible media reports indicated Cubans were still traveling to Russia to fight in Ukraine. Some of these individuals reported Cuban authorities were aware of their recruitment and may have facilitated their travel, and they were received in Moscow by a Cuban military official. Press reports indicated the Cuban regime allegedly received payment for each Cuban citizen recruited to fight in Ukraine on behalf of Russia. According to media reports, between June 2023 and February 2024, more than 1,000 Cubans had traveled to Russia to serve as foreign fighters.”

“International observers and former participants reported regime officials coerce individuals to participate and remain in the Cuban regime’s labor export programs, particularly the medical missions, managed by the Comercializadora de Servicios Medicos Cubanos (CSMC), the Unidad Central de Cooperación Médica (UCSM), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment. Cuban officials used a combination of inherently coercive laws and regulations to manipulate workers to remain in the program, while grossly profiting from their exploitation and forced labor. The Cuban regime created an inescapable situation for workers who, coerced by the economic circumstances in Cuba and out of fear of retaliation, joined labor export missions. According to the regime, medical professionals comprise 75 percent of its exported workforce. Cuba reported $7 billion in service exports in 2022 (the last year for which data is available), of which $4.9 billion were from the export of medical services.”

“The Ministry of Interior labeled workers who left the program without completing their assignment as “deserters,” thereby banning them from returning to Cuba for eight years. Regulated Cuban nationals who could not return to Cuba were categorized as having “emigrated,” losing citizen protections; rights, including custodial rights over children; and any property left behind; and were not allowed to visit their families remaining in Cuba. An international organization noted concern over Cuba’s policy to prohibit parents who terminated a civilian contract abroad from reuniting with their children. According to an international NGO, by 2021, the Cuban regime had sanctioned 40,000 regime-affiliated workers under these provisions. In 2022, there were approximately 5,000 children forcibly separated from their parents due to the regime’s provisions for the program.”

“There were approximately 26,000 medical workers in more than 55 countries by the beginning of 2025. The Cuban regime confiscates between 75 and 95 percent of the wages the receiving country agrees to pay for each worker. Of the remaining percentage, regime officials pay workers a living stipend, which was usually well below minimum wage and significantly less than what other foreign workers receive for the same or similar work, and allegedly deposit the rest of the funds in Cuban bank account in Cuban pesos rather than the currency the host government uses to pay Cuba for workers’ services. Funds deposited in Cuba were only paid in full to the workers when they successfully completed a mission, or partially, after 11 months of service, and while in Cuba.”

“According to a 2021 report documenting 1,111 testimonies of Cuban workers, 75 percent of participants did not volunteer for the program, 33 percent never saw a contract, 69 percent did not know their final destination, 38 percent had their passport confiscated by Cuban officials once they arrived at their destination, 76 percent had “minders,” 76 percent could not freely associate with locals, 79 percent had restrictions on their movement, 91 percent were told they could not return to Cuba if they defected, 75 percent suffered threats or witnessed coworkers being threatened, and 40 percent were separated from their children as punishment for defecting. Survivors of the labor export program reported regime minders coerced them into criminal activity by making them falsify patient records, manipulate medical files, report procedures that did not take place, and dispose of medications to corroborate fraudulent records and inflated statistics. In 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on Contemporary Forms of Slavery sent a letter to Cuban authorities raising concerns over the alleged human rights abuses suffered by regime-affiliated Cuban workers, including medical professionals and other civilian personnel. In the letter, the SR focused on abuses documented in Italy, Qatar, and Spain, including insufficient wages paid to workers, exhaustive work hours without adequate remuneration, the confiscation of passports, precarious work conditions, and the retaliation workers faced if they left the program.”

“Some anecdotal reporting indicates the Cuban regime may be expanding its practices and exploiting citizens in forced labor outside of bilateral agreements and in private hospitals. For example, there were approximately 160 Cuban victims of forced labor working as medical professionals in a private hospital in the Republic of Congo. According to a report, survivors experienced debt bondage, harassment, exhausting work hours, threats, meager wages, sub-standard and crowded living conditions, and passport confiscation. Survivors did not receive a contractual agreement in a language they understood and could not seek legal advice or keep a copy of the contract they signed. Survivors reported unprecedented ease in obtaining a passport to travel abroad, which was highly unusual for regulated civilian workers. According to the survivors, a regulated status flag was added to their file again shortly after leaving Cuba. Cuban diplomats in the Republic of Congo reportedly overlooked concerns of forced labor and passport confiscation and failed to provide consular assistance, raising concerns of official complicity.”

“While the medical missions remain the most profitable for the regime, Cuba had other similarly coercive labor export programs; including, but not limited to, teachers, athletes and coaches, artists, musicians, architects, engineers, forestry technicians, construction workers, and almost 7,000 sea mariners who were vulnerable to exploitation and forced labor. The Cuban regime had approximately 85 state-affiliated entities exporting services to different sectors. While CSMC and UCSM were the primary entities and responsible for 75 percent of Cuba’s labor exports, other regime-controlled corporations were involved in forced labor schemes. A 2024 investigative report into the Cuban regime’s presence in Angola – where more than 2,000 forced labor victims were present in 2023 – confirmed other regime entities followed a similar pattern of exploitation and forced labor. The total number of Cuban regime-affiliated workers in other sectors remains unknown.”

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[1] U.S. State Dep’t, 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report (Sept. 25, 2025).

[2] U.S. State Dep’t, 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report—Cuba (Sept. 25, 2025).

History of Roman Catholic Church’s Support of Migrants and Refugees

As Robert Cardinal McElroy briefly mentioned in his September 28th homily, the Roman Catholic Church for the last 110 years has held annual masses in support of immigrants and refugees. [1] `Here is more information about that history.

International Catholic Migration Commission[2]

This Commission holds an annual World Day of Migrants & Refugees and over the year provides the following types of “assistance and protection to vulnerable people on the move and advocates for sustainable solutions for refugees and migrants:: humanitarian assistance & development; protection & prevention; resettlement & complementary pathways; deployment of experts; advocacy; civil society coordination; capacity building & research; and church networking.” It does so with offices in Geneva, Switzerland,; Brussells, Belgium; Washington, D.C.; and Athens, Greece that are supported by 132 national Catholic Bishops conferences and other Catholic-inspired institutions  around the world.”

On April 7, 2025, the Most Rev. Timothy P. Broglio, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced their “gut-wrenching decision . . . to end our work with the federal government to resettle and coordinate our work with the [U.S.] federal government to resettle refugees and coordinate support services on the government’s behalf for unaccompanied children entering the United States. . . . The bishops’ decisiion came after the federal government suspended our cooperative agreements to resettle refugees. . . . [and our seeing] Jesus in the stranger, the homeless, the destitute of the refugee, and sought to help them.”[3]

Broglio continued, “The Catholic Church will find new means to help those we have served in the past and will serve in the future. The bishops will also continue to advocate energetically for public policy reforms that provide orderly, secure immigration processes and ensure the safety of everyone in our communities. There is no change in our collective commitment to advocate on behalf of men, women and children suffering from the scourge of human trafficking. . . . [This change] offers every Catholic an opportunity to search our hearts for ways to help in the absence of government support. Local parishes, charities and other Catholic organizations have played, and continue to play, a pivotal role in welcoming and protecting the stranger who comes to us in need. Visible in every individual and family is the face of Jesus and the promise of his care, support and hope.”

“The Bible’s call to do what we can for the least among us remains the benchmark. Please join us in praying for God’s grace, that we might still find generous ways to respond to crises and bring hope where it is most needed.”

Pope Leo’s Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2025[4]

On October 4-5, 2025,  Pope Leo issued the following message for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees:

“The 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which my predecessor chose to coincide with the Jubilees of Migrants and of the Missions, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the connections between hope, migration and mission.”

“The current global context is sadly marked by wars, violence, injustice and extreme weather events, which force millions of people to leave their homelands in search of refuge elsewhere. The widespread tendency to look after the interests of limited communities poses a serious threat to the sharing of responsibility, multilateral cooperation, the pursuit of the common good and global solidarity for the benefit of our entire human family. The prospect of a renewed arms race and the development of new armaments, including nuclear weapons, the lack of consideration for the harmful effects of the ongoing climate crisis, and the impact of profound economic inequalities make the challenges of the present and the future increasingly demanding.”

“Faced with frightening scenarios and the possibility of global devastation, it is important that there be a growing desire in people’s hearts for a future of peace and of respect for the dignity of all. Such a future is essential to God’s plan for humanity and the rest of creation. This is the messianic future anticipated by the prophets: “Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets… For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, the ground shall give its produce, and the skies shall give their dew” (Zech 8:4-5, 12). This future has already begun, since it was inaugurated by Jesus Christ (cf. Mk 1:15; Lk 17:21), and we believe and hope in its full realization, for the Lord is always faithful to his promises.”

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man and woman; it takes up the hopes that inspire human activities” (N. 1818). What is more, the search for happiness, and the prospect of finding it beyond one’s place of origin, is certainly one of the main motivations for the movement of people today.”

“This link between migration and hope is clearly evident in many contemporary experiences of migration. Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible. Moreover, we can see the itinerant experience of the people of Israel repeated in their own lives: “O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy” (Ps 68:7-10).”

“In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes. Here too we can find a clear analogy with the experience of the people of Israel wandering in the desert, who faced every danger while trusting in the Lord’s protection: “he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday” (Ps 91:3-6).”

“Migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying towards her final homeland, sustained by a hope that is a theological virtue. Each time the Church gives in to the temptation of “sedentarization” and ceases to be a civitas peregrine, God’s people journeying towards the heavenly homeland (cf. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Books XIV-XVI), she ceases to be “in the world” and becomes “of the world” (cf. Jn 15:19). This temptation was already present in the early Christian communities, so much so that the Apostle Paul had to remind the Church of Philippi that “our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself” (Phil 3:20-21).”

“In a special way, Catholic migrants and refugees can become missionaries of hope in the countries that welcome them, forging new paths of faith where the message of Jesus Christ has not yet arrived or initiating interreligious dialogue based on everyday life and the search for common values. With their spiritual enthusiasm and vitality, they can help revitalize ecclesial communities that have become rigid and weighed down, where spiritual desertification is advancing at an alarming rate. Their presence, then, should be recognized and appreciated as a true divine blessing, an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God, who gives new energy and hope to his Church: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2)”

“The first element of evangelization, as Saint Paul VI emphasized, is that of witness: “All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers. We are thinking especially of the responsibility incumbent on migrants in the country that receives them” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 21). This is a true missio migrantium, a mission carried out by migrants, for which adequate preparation and ongoing support must be ensured through effective inter-ecclesial cooperation.”

“At the same time, the communities that welcome them can also be a living witness to hope, one that is understood as the promise of a present and a future where the dignity of all as children of God is recognized. In this way, migrants and refugees are recognized as brothers and sisters, part of a family in which they can express their talents and participate fully in community life.”

“On this Jubilee, when the Church prays for all migrants and refugees, I wish to entrust all those who are on the journey, as well as those who are working to accompany them, to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, comfort of migrants, so that she may keep hope alive in their hearts and sustain them in their commitment to building a world that increasingly resembles the Kingdom of God, the true homeland that awaits us at the end of our journey.”

Conclusion

As a Christian of  the Presbyterian persuasion, I give thanks for the Roman Catholics’ sustained support of refugees and migrants over many years.

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[1] Homily Against Trump Immigration Policies by Roman Catholic Cardinal Robert McElroy, dwkcommentaries.com (9/29/25).

[2] International Catholic Migration Commission, 

[3] Broglio, Why Catholic bishops are ending our refugee work with the federal government, Wash. Post (4/7/25)

[4] Message of Pope Leo XIV for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2025.(7/25/25).

 

Homily Against Trump Immigration Policies by Roman Catholic Cardinal Robert McElroy 

At the September 28, Mass at Washington, D.C.’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Robert Cardinal McElroy delivered a blistering homily against some of President Trump’s immigration policies. The occasion was the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.[1]

The Homily’s Text[2]

“For the past one hundred ten years, Mass has been celebrated throughout our country to honor and support immigrants and refugees who have come to our nation as part of that stream of men and women from every land who have built up the United States into a great nation. But this year is different from the one hundred ten years that have preceded it. For this year we are confronting – both as a nation and as a Church – an unprecedented assault upon millions of immigrant men and women and families in our midst.”

“For the undocumented community of our Archdiocese, your daily witness of faith and family, hard work and sacrifice, compassion and love is a profound reflection of the deepest virtues of our faith and the most noble aspirations of our nation. The theme of today’s procession is hope amidst adversity, and in these days of deep suffering you give us an example of transforming hope and a resiliency that is founded upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose cross symbolizes at its core suffering amidst injustice, and the recognition that in our moments of deepest hardship, our God stands with us.”

“We are witnessing a comprehensive governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror among millions of men and women who have through their presence in our nation been nurturing precisely the religious, cultural, communitarian and familial bonds that are most frayed and most valuable at this moment in our country’s history. This assault seeks to make life unbearable for undocumented immigrants. It is willing to tear families apart, separating grieving mothers from their children, and fathers from the sons and daughters who are the center of their lives. It embraces as collateral damage the horrific emotional suffering that is being thrust on children who were born here, but now face the terrible choice of losing their parents or leaving the only country that they have ever known.”

“Catholic social teaching states that every nation has the right to effectively control its own borders and provide security. Thus, efforts to secure our borders and deport those undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes constitute legitimate national goals. At times, our government asserts that these goals constitute the essence and scope of its immigration enforcement efforts, and if that were true Catholic teaching would raise no objection.”

“But the reality we are facing here in the Archdiocese of Washington and across our country is far different. For our government is engaged in — by its own admission and by the tumultuous enforcement actions it has launched – a comprehensive campaign to uproot millions of families and hard-working men and women who have come to our country seeking a better life that includes contributing to building up the best elements of our culture and society. This campaign relies on fear and terror at its core, for the government knows that it cannot succeed in its efforts except by bringing new dimensions of fear and terror to our nation’s history and life. Its goal is simple and unitary: to rob undocumented immigrants of any real peace in their lives so that in misery they will ‘self-deport’.”

“What is the moral foundation for the government in undertaking such a comprehensive campaign of fear, in uprooting ten million people from their homes and expelling them from our country? The government says the answer is simple and determinative: they broke a law when they entered or chose to stay in the United States.”

But today’s Gospel proposes a far different measure for determining whether ten million men and women and children and families who have lived alongside us for decades should face terror and expulsion: are they our neighbors?”

“The Parable of the Good Samaritan is the greatest parable that Jesus gave to the formation of our moral lives and our understanding of bonds of community and sacrifice and embrace in this world. The most striking element of the Parable is not that the Samaritan took notice of the man who had been robbed, or that he was willing to sacrifice on his behalf or that he placed his own life at risk by stopping in a very dangerous location to see if help was needed. No, the most striking element of the Parable is that the Samaritan was willing to reject the norms of society which said that because of his birth and status he had no obligation to the victim, who was a Jew. The piercing insight and glory of the Samaritan was that he rejected the narrowness and myopia of the law to understand that the victim he was passing by was truly his neighbor and that both God and the moral law obligated him to treat him as neighbor.

“In the very same way, for us as believers and citizens, our obligation regarding undocumented women and men is to ask ourselves: Are they truly our neighbor? Is the mother who sacrifices in every dimension of her life to nurture children who will live rightly, productively and caringly our neighbor? Is the man being deported despite the fact that he has three sons who serve in the marines because of the values he taught them our neighbor? Is the woman who works to provide home care for our sick and elderly parents our neighbor? Is the young adult who came here as a child and loves this nation as the only country he has ever known our neighbor? Is the undocumented woman who contributes tirelessly to our parish, caring for the church, leading the daily rosary our neighbor?”

“In the Gospel today Jesus demands that the central perspective we must bring to understanding the moral legitimacy of the campaign of fear and deportation being waged in our country today springs from the bonds of community that have come to tie us together as neighbors, not the question of whether sometime in their past individuals broke a law by entering or remaining in the United States.”

“It is this perspective that must form our stance and action as people of faith. As a Church we must console and peacefully stand in solidarity with the undocumented men and women whose lives are being upended by the government’s campaign of fear and terror. Courage and sacrifice must be the hallmark of our actions at this moment of historic and deliberate suffering being visited upon people living truly good lives that are a credit to our nation. As citizens, we must not be silent as this profound injustice is carried out in our name. The priest and the Levite in today’s Gospel are a stark reminder that in the face of suffering, we so often choose to pass on by – sometimes out of indifference, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of a general reluctance to become involved.”

“But Jesus rejected this indifference, this fear, this reluctance. His telling last words in the Gospel allow only one option. Which of these in your opinion was neighbor to the robber’s victim? In understanding and facing the oppression of undocumented men and women in our midst, we can only have one response: I was, Lord, because I saw in them your face.”

Reactions

This homily presents the Christian approach to responding to many problems facing many foreigners living in the U.S. today and to making changes in U.S. law and procedures relating to those problems. It implicitly suggests extreme caution in taking any of the changes in U.S. asylum law proposed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.[3]

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[1]  Golden, D.C. archbishop calls U.S. immigration crackdown a ‘governmental assault,’ Wash. Post (9/28/25).

[2]

Mass for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees Homily Given by Robert Cardinal McElroy

[3

U.N. Meeting About Revising the Global Refugee and Asylum System

U.N. Meeting About Revising the Global Refugee and Asylum System

“On September 25, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau headlined an event on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly titled “The Global Refugee and Asylum System: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It.” He was joined by a panel of high-level representatives from Panama, Liberia, Bangladesh, and Kosovo. They were also joined by representatives from other nations, international organizations, and advocacy groups. During the event, sovereign states shared their perspectives on the problems with the outdated and broken international refugee and asylum regime —and more importantly, possible solutions to those issues.”[1]

According to the U.S. State Department, “The event kickstarted a long-overdue international discussion on much-needed reforms to the system to stop its abuse and ensure that sovereignty and democratic accountability receive their rightful due. The Trump Administration will not allow the U.S. asylum system to be used as a backdoor method to circumvent immigration law. We are firmly committed to defending America’s borders and defending the interests of the American people.”

Here are Deputy Secretary Landau‘s prepared remarks at the meeting:[2]

“Migration, I think, is going to be one of the defining topics of the 21st century, whether we like it or not. It was, in some ways, a defining topic of the 20th century as well. There were massive population shifts in the 20th century. And the United Nations actually played a role in that, usually in creating international mechanisms to assist migratory flows, to help nations create asylum and refugee systems.”

“I mean, let’s not forget this organization arose from the ashes of World War II, and one of the lessons of World War II is that countries felt that they had dropped the ball in not giving protection to people who were stranded in Nazi Germany and in the Axis powers, and who were persecuted. So many countries around the world – including my own country, the United States – established a legal framework in the late 1940s, around the same time this organization was created, to create a refugee or an asylum program under our domestic law.”

“We also, of course, have a completely separate and quite complicated, reticulated system of immigration laws. So, I think one of the points that I wanted to start with is that we’re talking really about two distinct issues that often get conflated. One is immigration. Each sovereign country can set its own procedures for immigration, and immigration – immigrants can be welcomed for many reasons – economic, you might want to improve a technology sector, you might need labor in your country. That really varies country to country.”

“Again, asylum status was always meant to be a much smaller subset of that. And I can speak to our domestic law – again, every country was going to have its own domestic laws. And I should say, by the way, we haven’t coordinated this on this panel, so we might have different views on this. And so I am speaking here for the United States, for myself. And I think one of the great things here is that we have a chance to have a conversation and talk about these things.”

“But in our law, in order to qualify for refugee status or asylum status, you need to have a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of certain enumerated statutory characteristics – in a sense, responded to the problem we saw in World War II – the basis of religion, race, political opinion. But it was not generally meant to be something to supplant the migration laws, right? Economic privation is not a basis for asylum.”

“That might be a basis for migration, but this was meant to be, in a sense, a separate asterisk to the asylum laws, that basically when there are some people who are really at such risk, imminent risk, of harm on the basis of these narrow, defined, protected categories, we will allow them into our country outside the scope of our migration laws, kind of as any port in a storm, right. If they were not allowed immediately to get out of their country, they face almost certain injury or death, right. And so we have those laws.”

“Again, that is a very noble concept, and I think the UN promoted international standards for refugees, has continued to do that. So, I think the UN has been instrumental in setting up these kinds of refugee or asylum systems all around the world, and in facilitating migration to some extent.”

“I think now in the year 2025 – we’re a quarter of the way through the 21st century – we take a step back and we see that there are massive migratory flows taking place, and a lot of times massive amounts of people are claiming asylum. In our system at least, when these claims get adjudicated, 90-plus percent of people are found not to be eligible for asylum. And we all know this kind of abuse is happening, frankly. And people who are economic migrants are coming in, in our country, saying that they are – that they should be given asylum. Our problem is when you have hundreds of thousands of people who arrive all at once and claim this, that really requires an individualized adjudication.”

“So now, we are in a sense saying, okay, well, please, you take a number and we will be back for your individualized interview in six years. And in the meantime, people can live in our country legally. They can start – they might get married. They can work. And so in a sense the migration – the asylum system has become a huge loophole in our migration laws. And we just have to be realistic about this, right? And I think the UN has a responsibility – just as it was instrumental, I think, in encouraging countries to adopt these kind of laws, I think we have to be realistic that these laws are now being abused. And we have to just acknowledge that.“

“I think the first step in dealing with any pathology is to acknowledge you have a problem. I think this is, again, not just a United States problem. We’re seeing this all over the world. That is not to say, frankly, that there are not real asylum seekers. But I think, frankly, if you have hundreds of thousands of fake asylum seekers, what happens to the real asylum seekers? They get lost in the midst of a massive bureaucratic process.”

“So, I think it behooves those who really are concerned about the plight of the real asylum seekers in the world to have an international order that accepts the fact that we should discourage people from abusing this process. And saying that you are – saying that the process is susceptible to abuse is not being xenophobic, it is not being a mean or bad person. It is just saying this is not the purpose for which this limited exception was created. And I think – I hope very much, the United States hopes, that this is part of the international agenda or else basically the asylum system will serve as a mechanism to make mass illegal migration legal. And that won’t last for long. What you’re going to see is you’re going to see countries saying, okay, we’re not going to have an asylum system at all.”

“So, for those of us who believe that asylum can play, as it was initially intended, a valuable role, I think this should be a top international priority to recognize the need to revisit the asylum system in the 21st century.”

“I think in our view there are five critical principles that the United States would like to put on the table that we see as kind of the basis of, hopefully, an emerging consensus.”

“First, that every nation ultimately has the right to control its own borders. That’s what it means to be a sovereign nation, to say: We get to decide who comes in and under what circumstances and for how long they get to come in. That is an – the quintessential element of sovereignty.”

“Second, there is no right to immigrate or to receive asylum or refugee status in the country of an individual’s choice. I mean, sometimes we see people who leave one country and traverse maybe a dozen countries to get to another country, right? And that defies the image of any port, any safe harbor in a storm, right? I mean, that makes it look like it’s no longer trying to avoid imminent injury or death, it makes it look like it’s just a substitute for migration. Hey, I want to go to live in this country. And so again, I think that is not – the basis of asylum, again, is to give someone shelter from immediate injury or death on the basis of certain kinds of characteristics – not, again, to just facilitate mass migration.”

“Third, refugee status is temporary, not permanent. We should reject the presumption that recognition of being a refugee is just another form of migration. Again, if the idea is it’s any port in a storm, then when the storm is over the presumption should be, okay, we’ve given you the shelter in a storm, but now the understanding is you should go back to your country. Again, for us these are kind of common sense principles, and I think are valuable to prevent the people who are asylum seekers from being subject to abuse and, frankly, from abusing the system.”

“I was meeting the other day with an ambassador in Washington. We were talking about some of the abuse of the asylum system, and he was laughing. And he told me he was in an Uber the other day and there was a guy from his country there driving the Uber. He says, “What are you doing here?” And the guy says, “I have asylum here.” And this guy, meanwhile, had actually flown back to his country to visit his family, and this is a country from which he sought asylum. Frankly, I didn’t even know that was possible to return to the country from which you’re seeking asylum, go on a holiday, and then come back to the United States.”

“I mean, we just have to be realistic. Like, these things are happening. And especially I know there’s those of you in this room who are big believers in an asylum system. But if you want to have an asylum system, please do not feel that you need to defend the abuses of the system. Please try to find common ground among all of us on ways that the asylum system can actually fulfill the purpose for which it is meant to serve and does not become a fig leaf in a sense for just ordinary economic migration.”

“I will just wrap up now, but I think it’s important, again, to emphasize that ultimately sovereign states and not transnational bodies must be making the determination whether the conditions in a country of origin permit return. And finally, every country – and this is, I think, just a basic of international law – must agree to accept expeditiously the return of its nationals.”

“So in concluding, let me just say I read an article the other day that Greece enacted a new law – again, this is an issue all over the world; it’s not just in our country – that said asylum seekers whose claim is rejected in the judicial system of Greece, or whatever special asylum system they have, have to return within 14 days. And then I saw statements condemning that as illegal. I thought, well, what was the purpose of having an asylum hearing if the person loses and it says you’re not entitled to rejection? Of course the person should have to go home. I mean, if the person is allowed to stay in Greece even if their asylum – as an asylum seeker even if their asylum claim is rejected, then was the whole thing just a farce? I mean, we have to have certain understandings that, yes, you come because you are – presumably you have a well-founded fear of persecution on these grounds. You Explain what it is. There is a prompt adjudication. And then you abide by the results of that adjudication.”

“But really, I am very grateful to our co-panelists for being in this forum to discuss their perspectives on migration and asylum, which I think are going to vary among all of us. But really, I think as the beginning of a serious international conversation that I think we have to recognize that the asylum system around the world has been subject to abuse if in fact we want to save the asylum system itself.”

Reactions[3]

I am a retired attorney who specialized in corporate litigation (antitrust, securities fraud, breach of contract, for example) and who learned as a practicing lawyer about the U.S. and international law of asylum in order to proudly serve as a successful pro bono asylum attorney for clients from El Salvador, Colombia, Afghanistan, Somalia and Burma[4] and who is thankful for Minnesota organizations that assist such attorneys and clients (Advocates for Human Rights, Center for Victims of Torture, University of Minnesota Law School’s Human Rights Center and the  International Institute of Minnesota).

Deputy Secretary Landau makes the following valid points: asylum was not intended to supplant a country’s general immigration laws; economic privation is not a basis for asylum; an asylum applicant who before arriving in the U.S. goes through one or more countries that have asylum laws should under certain circumstances apply for asylum in one of those countries; when an asylum applicant voluntarily returns to his or her home country, that should be grounds for revocation of his or her refugee status in the U.S. or when the political circumstances in the home country of a U.S. asylum applicant significantly change, that applicant should be subject to a U.S. government application to terminate that status and return the applicant to his or her home country.

Landau, however, ignores the complexity of U.S. immigration law, including refugee and asylum law, and the right of human beings involved in such proceedings to have their cases heard by one of our immigration courts, which are overburdened by a lack of immigration judges, and then to appeal denials of refugee status to the relevant U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court. All of that takes time and resources, including the appointment of additional immigration court judges.

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[1]  U.S. State Dep’t, Deputy Secretary Landau Leads UNGA Event on Migration Reform (9/25/25); Deputy Secretary Landau hosts The Global Refugee & Asylum System; What Went Wrong and How to Fix It, dviddshub.net (9/25/25).(the DVD is 57:52 minutes long); Taylor, Trump administration calls for radical reform of world’s asylum system, Wash. Post (9/25/25).

[2] U.S. State Dep’t, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau at the Panel ”The Global Refugee and Asylum System: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It: Remarks (Sept. 25, 2025).

[3] Becoming a Pro Bono Asylum Lawyer, dwkcommentaries.com (05/24/11);

Becoming a Pro Bono Asylum Lawyer

 

List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: LAW (Refugee & Asylum);

My Pilgrimage to El Salvador, April 1989

Advocates for Human Rights; Center for Victims of Torture,; Human Rights Center, University of Minnesota Law School; International Institute of Minnesota.

 

 

 

Honoring Oscar Romero at London’s Westminster Abbey

In 1998, individual statues for Oscar Romero and ten other modern martyrs (Maximillian Kolbe, Manche Masemola, Manche Masemola, Janani Luwum, Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King Jr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi and Wang Zhiming) were added above the West Entrance to London’s Westminster Abbey.  [1]

The Abbey’s website says the following about Romero:[2]

  • “Oscar Romero was beatified by Pope Francis on 23rd May 2015 and canonised (made a saint) in Rome on 14th October 2018.”
  • Romero: “I must tell you, as a Christian, I do not believe in death without resurrection. If I am killed, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.”
  • “He went to a seminary in San Miguel, then to the capital San Salvador, and from there to Rome. He was ordained in 1942. In January 1944 he was recalled to San Miguel by his bishop and was soon secretary of the diocese. This position he held for twenty-three years. In San Miguel his work flourished and his reputation grew. He established a succession of new organizations and inspired many with his sermons, broadcast by five local radio stations and heard across the city.”
  • “Romero was impressed, though not always uncritical, of the new Catholicism that was affirmed with such confidence in Vatican II. In 1970 he became auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, and there he busied himself with administration. Many found him a conservative in views and by temperament. In 1974 he became bishop of a rural diocese, Santiago de Maria. Three years later, in February 1977, Oscar Romero became archbishop of San Salvador.”
  • “In that month a crowd of protesters were attacked by soldiers in the town square of the capital. Then, on 12th March 1977, a radical priest, Rutilio Grande, was murdered in Aguilares. Romero had known him. Now he observed that there was no official enquiry. He recognized that power lay in the hands of violent men, and that they murdered with impunity. The wealthy sanctioned the violence that maintained them. Death squads committed murder in the cities while soldiers killed as they wished in the countryside. When a new government which represented a coalition of powerful interests was elected it was seen to be by fraud. There was talk of revolution.”
  • “More and more Romero committed himself to the poor and the persecuted, and he became the catalyst for radical moral prophecy in the church and outside it. Meanwhile, his church began to document the abuse of human rights, and to establish the truth in a country governed by lies, where men and women simply disappeared without account. The press attacked him vehemently. Romero, it was said, allied the church with revolutionaries. This he repudiated: the church was not a political movement. But when a succession of priests were murdered Romero found in their deaths testimony of a church incarnated in the problems of its people.”
  • “In May 1979 he visited the Pope in Rome and presented him with seven dossiers filled with reports and documents describing the injustices of El Salvador. But his friends sensed his isolation in the church, while the threats and dangers against him mounted outside it. On 24th March 1980 he was suddenly shot dead while celebrating mass in the chapel of the hospital where he lived.”
  • “Today the memory of Oscar Romero is cherished by the people of El Salvador, and by countless Christians across the world.”

In addition, the Abbey’s website adds the program for an Evensong commemorating the centenary of Romero’s birth on September 23, 2017, and an Abbey service for St. Oscar Romero on November 17, 2018, along with the text of the sermon by the Dean of Westminster (the Very Reverend Dr. John Hall) and a list of materials about Romero and his martyrdom.[3]

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[1] St Oscar Romero, Westminster Abbey.

[2] Venerable Tricia Hillas, St. Oscar Romero sermon (Sept. 10, 2023).

 [3] Centenary of the Birth of Blessed Oscar Romero (Sept. 23, 2017); Evensong commemorating the cnetenary of the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero  (Sep. 23, 2017); Solemn Evensong of Thanksgiving for the Canonization of St Oscar Romero. (Nov. 17, 2018); Abbey service for St Oscar Romero (Nov. 17, 2018); Sermon given at the Thanksgiving for the Canonization of St Oscar Romero (Nov. 17, 2018). See also blog posts about Romero in List of Posts in dwkcommentaries—Topical: EL SALVADOR.

Cuba Population: 9,740,000 

Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information has reported that the island’s population at the end of 2024 was 9,740,000.

The number of births during the year was 71,000,  “the lowest figure in recent decades and confirming that women of childbearing age in Cuba are postponing or choosing not to have children.”

“The serious crisis Cuba is experiencing, with no short- or medium-term solution in sight, is discouraging young people from starting families on the island. For the vast majority, emigration is their life plan.”

“According to an independent demographic study by Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, Cuba had only 8,025,624 inhabitants at the end of 2024, following a cumulative decline of 24% in just four years.”

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There are 9,740,000 Cubans living on the island, says the Government, Diario de Cuba (May 7, 2025).

 

 

Reflections on Cuba’s Independence from Spain  

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Jose Maria Aznar wrote that “Cuba wasn’t a mere colony, but part of Spain’s territory.”[1]

On the other hand, Professor Carlos Boix of Princeton University points out that a young Winston Churchill in 1895 “briefly joined the Spanish army fighting Cuban pro-independence guerrillas. In his first dispatch from the island, he wrote: “The insurgents gain adherence continually. There is no doubt that they possess the sympathy of the entire population.” Then, later, in his autobiographical book, My Early Life, he noted that Spaniards “felt about Cuba, it seemed, just as we felt about Ireland,” adding that “I thought it rather cheek that these foreigners should have just the same views and use the same sort of language about their country and their colonies as if they were British.”[2]

And Michal Bezek in a letter adds,“Mr. Aznar fails to reflect on how colonial misrule cost Spain the possession of Cuba. The Spanish may have considered Cubans to be an integral part of their country, but the Cubans certainly didn’t seem to think so. They fought against their colonial masters in the brutal Ten Years’ War (1868-78) and rose up in rebellion again in 1895.”[3]

“It was the constant flood of news about the brutal tactics of Valeriano Weyler—the colonial governor of Cuba, nicknamed “the Butcher,” who depopulated large swathes of the island and put inhabitants in concentration camps—that turned many Americans against Spain and convinced them that something had to be done about the festering sore 90 miles off our southern coastline.”

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[1] Aznar, McKinley, TR and Trump, A Spaniard Reflects, W.S.J. (Mar. 15, 2025).

[2] Letter by Professor Carlos Boix, Id.

[3] Letter by Michael Bezek, Id.  Bezek might be the Analytics Director at Health Catalyst in Colorado Springs.

Wall Street Journal’s Criticism of Trump’s Tariff Decisions and Analysis of His Values 

Wall Street Journal’s two recent editorials have criticized President Trump’s tariff decisions and the Journal has offered commentary on Trump’s State of the Union address to the Congress and the opinion of a Journal columnist (William Galston) on how Trump sees the world.

Editorial: “Trump Takes the Dumbest Tariff Plunge”[1]

 “President Trump likes to cite the stock market when it’s rising as a sign of his policy success, so what does he think about Monday’s plunge? The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a 650-point header after he announced that he’ll hit Mexico and Canada on Tuesday with 25% tariffs.”

“Mr. Trump wants tariffs for their own sake, which he says will usher in a new golden age.”

“We’ve courted Mr. Trump’s ire by calling the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point. Mr. Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction, and the North American vehicle market is so interconnected that some cars cross a border as many as eight times as they’re assembled.”

“Mr. Trump is volatile, and who knows how long he’ll keep the tariffs in place. Retaliation that hits certain states and businesses may also cause him to reconsider sooner than he imagines. Investors are trying to read this uncertainty as they also watch growing evidence of a slowing U.S. economy. Unbridled Tariff Man was always going to be a big economic risk in a second term, and here we are.” (Emphasis added.)

Editorial: “Trump’s Tariffs Whack Trump Voters”[2]

“President Trump won the Presidency a second time by promising working-class voters he’d lift their real incomes. Which makes it all the more puzzling that he’s so intent on imposing tariffs that will punish those same Americans.”

“Tariffs are taxes, and Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs are estimated to be about an annual $150 billion tax increase. Taxes are antigrowth. That’s the message investors are sending this week since Mr. Trump let his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect. The President also raised his 10% tariff on China by another 10%. Canada and China retaliated, while Mexico is holding off until Sunday.”

“The border taxes, and the uncertainty they bring, are weighing on growth and consumer confidence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 3.4% since Mr. Trump took office, erasing the ebullient gains that followed his November election.”

“Energy prices will rise too. Mr. Trump implicitly conceded this by reducing his tariffs to 10% on Canadian energy imports. Despite the U.S. shale fracking boom, constraints on pipeline capacity mean the Midwest and Northeast depend heavily on Canada for natural gas. That means heating bills will rise in Trump country. So will electricity prices.”

“The U.S. imports about 3,315 gigawatt hours of electricity on average from Canada each month—enough to power about 3.7 million homes. These flows help stabilize the grid and lower prices in the Northeast and Midwest. New England’s grid operator estimates the tariffs could cost the region between $66 million and $165 million a year. Energy makes up 40% of primary aluminum producers’ costs. Several Midwest foundries have closed in recent years amid rising energy prices. The Trump tariffs will harm the very workers he claims to be trying to help.”

“They will also cause pain at the pump. The U.S. is a net oil exporter, but it still imports about 6.5 million barrels a day of crude, mostly from Canada and Mexico. That’s because refineries in the Gulf Coast and Midwest process heavy grades. It would cost billions of dollars to retrofit them to process light blends from U.S. shale. Drivers of pickup trucks in the Midwest (where refineries depend on Canadian crude) are likely to suffer the most pain.”

“Speaking of which, we recently told you about an Anderson Economic Group analysis that estimated the 25% tariffs would raise the cost of a pickup assembled in North America by $8,000. Heavy-duty truck prices may also surge as they rely on parts from Canada and Mexico.”

“The President also professes to love American farmers, but he apparently loves tariffs more. U.S. farmers are already being squeezed by low crop prices and inflation. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) says farmers are losing money on almost every major crop planted for the third straight year.”

“Tariffs will increase their pain. About 85% of the U.S. potash supply for fertilizer is imported from Canada. China is hitting U.S. farm exports with a 15% tariff, which will let farmers in Brazil and Australia grab market share. “Even more costs and reducing markets for American agricultural goods could create an economic burden some farmers may not be able to bear,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said Tuesday.”

“Mr. Trump’s tariff spree is the triumph of ideology over, well, common sense. Let’s hope the President soon comes to his senses.” (Emphasis added.)

Commentary on Trump’s State of Union Speech[3]

“Mr. Trump is volatile, and who knows how long he’ll keep the tariffs in place. Retaliation that hits certain states and businesses may also cause him to reconsider sooner than he imagines. Investors are trying to read this uncertainty as they also watch growing evidence of a slowing U.S. economy. Unbridled Tariff Man was always going to be a big economic risk in a second term, and here we are.”  (Emphasis added.)

Comments on Trump-Zalensky Meeting[4]

William Galston, a W.S.J. opinion columnist (politics and ideas), has offered his thoughts on what we have learned about Trump’s approach to foreign policy from his recent meeting with Volodmyr Zalensky and other episodes.

“It’s clear that the concept of a ‘rules-based international order’ is anathema to Mr. Trump. After all, following rules may force you to do something you don’t want to and may impose short-term costs on your country. Mr. Trump seems to think the current rules don’t promote America’s long-term interests.” (Emphasis added.)

Trump’s “aim, it seems, is to maximize his freedom of action at all times. This explains why he is inclined to see alliances as burdens. Bringing your allies along with you takes time, patience and compromise. It constrains your will. Why bother? Better to deal one-on-one with friend and foe alike.” (Emphasis added.)

“Mr. Trump’s approach to foreign policy is amoral—a relentless pursuit of self-interest. Appeals to principles leave him cold, as do international relationships based on ‘shared values.’ His instincts leave him unable to understand why so many people on both sides of the Atlantic are committed to an alliance of Western democracies against the rising tide of antidemocratic forces.” (Emphasis added.)

“Indeed, it’s not clear that Mr. Trump prefers democracy to autocracy. He has praised autocratic leaders—Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, even Kim Jong Un. He admires their strength and envies their ability to act without pesky legislators and critical reporters.” (Emphasis added.)

“Strength and weakness replace right and wrong in Mr. Trump’s lexicon. What matters most is leverage. If you have it, use it to the hilt. If you don’t, you must settle for what you can get. The merits of your position don’t matter. Underscoring this point, Mr. Trump has ‘paused’ aid to Ukraine in a move to weaken its hand and force Mr. Zelensky into peace talks with Russia.” (Emphasis added.)

“Speaking of strength: Mr. Trump evidently believes that there are three great powers—China, Russia and the U.S.—and that establishing satisfactory relations among them takes priority over collateral damage to smaller countries. The idea is to return to ‘spheres of influence’: Ukraine and the ‘near abroad’ for Russia, and Panama, Canada and Greenland for the U.S.” (Emphasis added.)

“And what for China? In the ‘great powers’ context, it’s not surprising that Elbridge Colby, Mr. Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Journal that although the U.S. should be prepared to defend Taiwan, the island ‘isn’t itself of existential importance to America.’ And as Chinese pressure on the Philippines intensifies, I wonder whether Mr. Trump will honor America’s longstanding mutual-defense treaty with Manila.” (Emphasis added.)

“What is of existential importance, it seems, is economics. Mr. Trump’s view is that just about every country is ‘ripping us off’ in trade. The size of the trade deficit is proof; never mind what economists say causes it. Our allies are ripping us off in defense as well. Helping them defend themselves, he thinks, costs the U.S. without attendant benefits. Mr. Trump knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.” (Emphasis added.)

“Nonsense, his supporters reply. Mr. Trump is pursuing peace. What could be a higher value than this? But there are different kinds of peace. Lincoln spoke of a ‘just and lasting peace.’ Richard Nixon pursued ‘peace with honor.’ By contrast, Neville Chamberlain, after negotiating with Hitler in Munich in 1938, claimed he had secured ‘peace for our time.’ In reply, Winston Churchill told Chamberlain, ‘You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.’”

“On Monday Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a stirring speech in the British House of Commons, pledging large increases in the U.K. defense budget and detailing his efforts to forge a coalition of the willing in defense of Ukraine. His remarks garnered widespread praise, including from opposition party leaders and citizens across the U.K. Mr. Starmer’s practicality and moral clarity had made them proud to be British.”

“But Mr. Starmer was forthright: Even with maximum effort from Europe, his plan to secure Ukraine against future Russian aggression couldn’t succeed without an American ‘backstop.’ When the prime minister asks for one, how will Mr. Trump reply?”

Conclusion

This blogger was pleasantly surprised by these cogent remarks from the Wall Street Journal, which has the reputation of being a newspaper allied with the Republican Party.

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[1] Editorial, Trump Takes the Dumbest Tariff Plunge, W.S.J. (Mar. 3, 2025).

[2] Editorial, Trump’s Tariffs Whack Trump Voters, W.S.J. (Mar. 4, 2025).

[3] Andrews, Gomez, & Dapena, An Annotated Fact-Check and Analysis of Trump’s Speech to Congress, W.S.J. (Mar. 5, 2025).

[4] Galston, The Zalensky Spat Shows Us How Trump Sees the World, W.S.J. (Mar. 4, 2025).