In an interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes, former White House Adviser Steve Bannon said that the Bishops “need illegal aliens to fill the churches.” But James Rogers, chief communications officer for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, immediately pushed back at this allegation.
When asked by Rose about the Trump administration’s announcement that they would be phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA), Bannon defended the decision. Rose pressed Bannon on it, noting that he is a Catholic and that Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York – among other Church leaders – opposed the administration’s ending of the program.
“The Catholic Church has been terrible about this,” Bannon said, in comments reported on CBSNews.com on Thursday morning.The bishops, he said, “need illegal aliens to fill the churches” and “have an economic interest in unlimited immigration, unlimited illegal immigration.” …
Rogers, speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said on Thursday afternoon that Bannon’s claim of the bishops having an “economic interest” in “unlimited illegal immigration” was “outrageous and insulting.”
“The Bible is clear: welcoming immigrants is indispensable to our faith,” Rogers said.
Photo credit: CBS News