Welcoming Immigrants is Not Political, It’s Christian

Tom Faletti
Sep 22
5 min read

People who oppose immigration accuse Christians of being “political.” Their argument is with God, not with us. Jesus told us to “welcome the stranger.” We are just following his teachings.

One person is reaching out to take the hand of another. — Image by Rémi Walle, provided by Unsplash via Wix.

How long have Catholics and other Christians been speaking out on behalf of immigrants? 15 years? 45 years? 111 years? 2,000 years?

At a recent forum on deportations and the treatment of immigrants in the United States hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso, TX, explained why Christians are speaking out in support of immigrants today. He said:

Let me begin first of all just by pointing out that we are doing this because we’re believers, because of our faith, because we’re disciples of Jesus Christ and we’ve read the Gospel ,and we hear the Lord saying we need to care in a special way for those who are most vulnerable, those who have no power, those who have no voice. I could go on a long time, but I think you know many of the passages to which I’m referring.

When we speak to this issue, many people today say, “Oh, you’re getting into politics.” Well, I need to point out that this was a gospel issue before it was a political issue. And the Church’s teaching on immigration isn’t new, and it hasn’t changed. We’ve celebrated World Day for Migrants and Refugees for 111 years, since around the time of World War I. And even then, it wasn’t just invented at that moment. We’ve had the Gospels for a longer time; so that’s the basis. (Deportations and Assaults on Human Dignity)

111 Years of modern Catholic concern for migrants

What is the 111 years that Bishop Seitz is talking about?

In the years before World War I, Pope Pius X, who lived in Rome, took a special interest in Italian migration. In 1914, he asked Christians to pray for migrants. The following year, his successor, Pope Benedict XV, established a Day for Migrants that has been celebrated ever since. That’s 111 years.

Before that, Pope Pius X established an office on emigration in the Vatican and worked for the proper reception of migrants in receiving countries (see the World Day of Migrants & Refugees Story link at the Vatican’s World Day of Migrants & Refugees webpage).

The Catholic concern for migrants is not new.

Migrants in the Bible

Bishop Seitz charitably credited his audience with knowing the Scripture passages that compel us to speak out on behalf of immigrants. Here are a few of them:

The Old Testament states clearly: “When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” (Lev. 19:33-34)

Jesus calls us to “welcome the stranger.” By way of explanation, he tells us that when we welcome them we welcome him, and he warned those who fail to do so that they face “eternal punishment.” (Matt. 25:31-46)

Other New Testament documents call on Christians to show “hospitality” (Rom. 12:3; Heb. 13:2), a word that literally means “love of the stranger,” and indicated that church leaders need to be hospitable (1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:8).

You can’t get any clearer: We are to treat immigrants like the native-born. When we welcome them, we welcome Jesus. Our lives should be marked by hospitality (love of the stranger).

Hospitality in the early church

When the New Testament writers talked about hospitality, they understood it to mean providing lodging, food, and other assistance to strangers, and the early church did that.

In the 2^nd century, Justin Martyr described the earliest Sunday liturgies. They took up a collection, he wrote, and: “What is collected is deposited with the president [i.e., presiding minister], and he takes care of orphans and widows, and those who are in want on account of sickness or any other cause, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers who are sojourners among [us].” (The First Apology of Justin, the Martyr)

After Christianity was accepted by the Roman Empire, the Church’s practice of welcoming strangers continued and became more formalized. Before the word “hospital” came to mean exclusively a place for sick people, local churches created “hospitals” to extend “hospitality” to strangers – primarily by offering them lodging and meals, but people who were sick also received care in their illness.

The Christian emphasis on welcoming strangers is not new.

Welcoming immigrants is an American thing to do

In the United States, this week is National Migration Week (September 22–28, 2025). The U.S. Catholic Church has celebrated this week for 45 years. It is a time to reflect on the many ways immigrants enrich our country and to express solidarity with them in the challenges they face – which, sadly, are far greater than necessary this year.

This observation in the United States is timed to led up to the worldwide celebration of the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, which this year is October 4-5.

Bishop Seitz had more to say about our attitude toward immigrants from an American perspective:

I also want to point out that while it is for us a matter of living out our faith, it is also that we want to be good citizens of our country. We want to be good patriotic citizens, faithful to the founding principles of this country that recognize the inalienable dignity and rights given by our Creator to every person. Without that, without a care for those who are most vulnerable among us, we cannot be a great nation, we cannot be a just nation. So these are foundations of why we do what we do. (Deportations and Assaults on Human Dignity)

Bishop Seitz is telling us that, although caring for immigrants is a fundamental part of living as a Christian, it is not just a Christian thing. For all Americans, even those who do not follow Christ, caring about immigrants is part of who we are. Under our Constitution, every person has dignity and rights. Even immigrants who have entered the country without approval are entitled to due process and equal protection under the law. The Declaration of Independence says every person is endowed with inalienable rights. Nations have a right to control their borders, but they do not have a license to mistreat immigrants.