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FENCE-LOZANO Oct-30-2006 (400 words) xxxi
Mexican cardinal calls fence along U.S.-Mexican border shortsighted
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Building a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border is a shortsighted move that may hurt the U.S. economy and shows a serious lack of respect for the dignity of Mexican workers, said a Vatican official.
"This wall, together with the fact that this border is patrolled by thousands of armed men ready to shoot on sight those who try to cross it, certainly is not respectful of the dignity of the human person," said Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan.
The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, spoke about the fence in an Oct. 29 interview with Avvenire, the Italian Catholic daily newspaper.
President George W. Bush signed a bill Oct. 26 authorizing construction of the fence along a total of 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Cardinal Lozano told Avvenire the bill's passage and signing were a sign of a "lack of intelligence" in U.S. efforts to find solutions to its border problems as well as a lack of political courage to take a moral stand just before the November elections.
He said the fence is unlikely to stop illegal entry into the United States, but is likely to lead people "to try to cross the border in increasingly risky ways or by putting themselves into the hands of unscrupulous traffickers."
In addition, the cardinal said, "from an economic point of view, it does not seem to me to be a very farsighted choice."
The millions of dollars that Mexicans working in the United States send home to their families is essential for their survival and for the Mexican economy, he said.
And if they can afford to send so much home, "how much greater is the profit earned by their bosses" in the United States? the cardinal asked.
"Does it make sense for the United States to kill this goose that lays golden eggs, which objectively is what the phenomenon of immigration is doing?" he asked.
Cardinal Lozano told Avvenire that Pope Benedict XVI had spoken on other occasions about the need to build bridges, not walls.
Walls and fences, he said, are not the solution, "not along the border between Mexico and the United States, not in the Holy Land, not anywhere. Let us hope that they meet the same end as the Berlin Wall did."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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