Popes Francis and Benedict XVI spoke of need to help refugees and migrants
By Deborah Gyapong
OTTAWA (CCN)
Caption: Ryan Worms
Catholic aid agencies have concerns about U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s stand on climate change, on migrants and refugees, and on peace in the Middle East.
However, a terrorism expert sees an opportunity for “out of the box” thinking to solve the problems that cause migration, combat Islamic terrorism, and find peace in the Middle East.
For the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and other Catholic aid agencies, the need to act to reduce emissions and support the poorest countries most adversely affected by climate change is a priority, said Ryan Worms, the deputy director of in-Canada programs.
Trump’s position during the campaign has raised a lot of questions, he said. “The United States is a key player if we want to fight climate change and ease the suffering of our sisters and brothers around the world who are facing its effects.”
Worms said it is worrisome Trump wants to look more closely at the Paris climate change agreement and supports more pipelines.
Trump’s call to build a wall on the Mexican border and to send illegal migrants home is also of concern, Worms said. “What can be effectively applied when he is in the Oval Office, that’s still to be seen.”
“Of course, we as Catholics are more inclined to welcome the one in need, the one who suffers,” he said, noting both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI before him spoke not only of the need to help refugees and migrants but also to address the conditions that lead people to leave their homelands.
“The signs are not that good, but we need to have a close look at what will be done in January when he takes power,” Worms said, noting the issue of migration and the welcome of refugees is not only an issue in the United States but in Europe, where borders are being closed in Eastern Europe.
Terrorism expert John Thompson, who is also Catholic, agreed there’s a “change in climate” and a return of nativist sentiments. The rejection of open borders is not out of bigotry, he said, but from an attitude that “we would like our society to survive.”
“Traditional immigrant-accepting countries are happy with diversity up to a point, but we don’t want to be swallowed up,” he said.
Thompson said while it would be possible to build a wall on the Mexican border, “it may have to be a hemispheric solution, some out-of-the-box thinking rather than the traditional rut.”
Mexico, too, has problems with migrants from Central America, from countries that have become a “cesspit” of gang violence, he said. “We’ll get that out-of-the-box thinking from someone like Trump who has not been part of the system and hasn’t played in it.”
Thompson also stressed the importance of shutting down the illegal human traffickers or snakeheads who are helping migrants cross into the United States or across the Mediterranean into Europe at great risk to their lives. “If everyone understands those boats will never get anyone to Europe, maybe that family can keep their $6,000 and their loved one and do something useful with [the money,]” Thompson said.
For the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), another Holy See charitable organization, the big concern is peace, especially in the Middle East, said CNEWA Canada national director Carl Hetu. “We are eager to hear more about [Trump’s] policies now that he won the presidency.”
“The faster we have peace in the Middle East, the safer it will be for Americans, Canadians and the rest of the world,” he said. Peace will also mean more protection for religious minorities. “If Trump has some new initiatives that might be unpopular but in the end bring peace and stability, we will defend that and we will applaud him.”
Unlike his opponent, Hillary Clinton, Trump said he would not intervene against the Assad Regime in Syria. Hetu said the world has been divided since the civil war began in Syria in 2011 over Assad.
Middle East experts worldwide will tell you a peaceful solution “has to go through Assad and with Assad despite everything he’s done,” Hetu said. “It doesn’t mean because you sit with Assad at the table you support the atrocities he’s done, but the bloodshed needs to stop.”
“The Syrians need peace; the Iraqis need peace,” he said.
Though Trump said many radical things during the election, and talks about quick fixes on the Middle East, Europe and the environment, now might be a “good time to influence him,” said Hetu.
“Working towards peace in the Middle East will bring peace and security to America,” he said. “He’s been saying he wants America to be protected. The only way to do that is through peace. The world is hungry for peace
Thompson said the Democrats under Obama and Secretary of State Clinton “screwed up every portfolio” in the Middle East, from Egypt, to Libya to Syria.
“You can lay the Syrian civil war on Obama and the head of his state department,” Thompson said. “Putin is the only one who recognized that Assad might be a monster, but a monster who should be kept in his position.”
“Tensions have risen with Russia, and the possibility for a mistake we’ll all regret is growing,” Thompsons said. “I hope Trump picks out some of the Soviet experts and starts dealing with the Russians more respectfully again.”
The Americans misinterpreted the so-called Arab Spring with the idea that “every revolution is a good revolution, he said. “The risk is you toss out a goblin and replace him with an ogre.”
Thompson believes Trump will make a difference in the treatment of Islamic terrorism. Under the Obama administration those who could tell the difference between peaceful Muslim groups and radical Salafists “have been kept out or removed from instruction positions with American police forces,” he said. “It’s not a paranoid delusion to say the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the White House.”
