Cardinal Dolan slams Trump's immigration order
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - At the inauguration, Timothy Cardinal Dolan read a passage from the Book of Wisdom as a prayer for President Donald Trump. Now Dolan is questioning the wisdom of the Trump administration's immigration restrictions. Cardinal Dolan said he agrees the borders should be safe and the system can be strengthened. But he is "not too comfortable" with how this has all played out.
The executive order bars immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and blocks all refugees from Syria. Earlier, President Trump defended the action on Twitter: "Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!"
Dolan said that the "what" the president wants to do is one thing, but the "how" he is doing it is not good. For an example, he cited his colleague in Iraq Archbishop Bashar Warda. Dolan said Warda is one of the most loving men in the world. Warda is currently caring for 100,000 refugees -- Muslim and Christian. He was planning to come to the U.S. to visit Dolan, but now he has decided not to come because of the political climate, despite having a visa.
The Vatican is also weighing in for the first time. A spokesman said Pope Francis is worried about President Trump's immigration policy. Those sentiments also shared by Joseph Cardinal Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, who called the executive order as "un-American."