Bishop D. José Ornelas
José Ornelas, president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), gave a lesson on Catholic values and a tug of ears to the government, due to the new laws of nationality and foreigners.
Quoting Jesus Christ, José Ornelas He said he does not recognize as a Catholic who claims to be a believer and, at the same time, promotes xenophobia, adopting speeches against immigrants and welcoming.
“This is what, to me, most costs me to understand all this,” said the zip leader, when confronted with the fact that Much of Xenophobic, populist and anti-immigrant discourse invokes the Catholic faith and the Judeo-Christian matrix of Europe.
At a conference after the 16th Meeting of Bishops of Lusophone countries, this Friday, José Ornelas quoted what Jesus Christ answered to his contemporaries who accused him of violating the Jewish faith in which he had been created: “The answer is ‘I don’t know you'”.
“Not only do we need immigrants, but We need to evolve” and stop having a “culture of fear” – something that the proposed laws of nationality and foreigners seem to accentuatewarned José Ornelas.
In this expected change, “What has more [nos diplomas] It is a prohibition And the concern with the fear that has generated itself, ”says Ornelas.
While, on the other hand, the newsroom proposal is “very, very par is in what is the duty, need and challenge of integration” of immigrantsa theme in which, “practically, the speech disappeared,” lamented the bishop of Leiria-Fatima.
Last month, Five of the seven rules contained in the diploma of amendment of the Foreign Law approved by Parliament and sent by the President of the Republic to the Constitutional Court (TC).
The changes resulted from a joint government proposal PSD/CDS-PP and one Arriva Billhaving been approved with the favorable votes of these parties and the abstention of the liberal initiative and the votes against PS, free, PCP, BE, PAN and JPP.
The diploma had been by the President of the Republic to the TC on July 24.
