Racial profiling, suspicion won't stop terrorism, U.S. cardinal says

Published: 2003-11-18

ROME (CNS) -- Racial profiling and exaggerated suspicion of strangers will not protect people from terrorism, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington told a Vatican-sponsored conference on migration and refugees. "In a world more and more concerned about terrorism, where strangers are seen as a threat," the Catholic Church "must insist that we are all brothers and sisters," he said. "You cannot protect yourself by putting down a whole race of people," the cardinal said in response to a question after his Nov. 18 presentation at the World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees in Rome. Protecting the human rights of migrants and refugees, giving them a dignified welcome and caring for their spiritual needs all require the constant attention of the Catholic Church, said speakers at the Nov. 17-22 congress sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers. The world's 175 million migrants and 40 million refugees and displaced people "have a right to know Christ and experience his love for all men and women of all nations, ethnic groups and from all history," Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, council president, told participants.

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