House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used a parable of Jesus to condemn President Trump’s immigration policy, in a Sunday tweet that also offered illegal immigrants advice if Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows up at their door.
“It should be a sign to us that today’s Catholic Gospel reading is the Good Samaritan, where Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves and treat them with mercy,” the speaker tweeted. “Trump’s ICE raids today tear families apart -the opposite of mercy. #FamiliesBelongTogether #KnowYourRights“
It should be a sign to us that today’s Catholic Gospel reading is the Good Samaritan, where Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves and treat them with mercy. Trump’s ICE raids today tear families apart -the opposite of mercy. #FamiliesBelongTogether #KnowYourRights pic.twitter.com/3x7kAsLAVQ
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 14, 2019
The Christian parable of the Good Samaritan, found in the Gospel of Luke, was a sermon by Jesus in which he depicted a Jewish man who had been robbed, beaten, and left on the side of the road. Though ignored by several people, the man at last was rescued by a Samaritan, with whom the Jews of that time were enemies. The story is considered by scholars and theologians to be an example of love transcending personal prejudice.
The speaker’s tweet draws upon the same story shared Sunday by Pope Francis, who tweeted, “In today’s Gospel, Jesus proposes the Samaritan as a model. By loving his neighbor as himself, he demonstrates how to love God with one’s whole heart, while at the same time expressing true religiosity and full humanity.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus proposes the Samaritan as a model. By loving his neighbor as himself, he demonstrates how to love God with one’s whole heart, while at the same time expressing true religiosity and full humanity.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 14, 2019
Pelosi has been condemned by officials of the Roman Catholic Church, who have asserted that she should be denied Holy Communion because of her support for abortion rights.
“This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion,” Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke said of the speaker’s abortion views in 2013.
“As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said of her views on abortion. “I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics.”
