Catholics play vital role in helping migrants to U.S.

By Robin Emmott

REUTERS

6:38 a.m. January 11, 2008

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – At a Catholic-run shelter just across the border from Laredo, Texas, dozens of Latin American migrants say grace and tuck into a hearty meal of sausages, beans and rice, before trying to swim across the Rio Grande into the United States.

Weary migrants on their journey north often recharge their batteries at a network of similar shelters run by the Roman Catholic Church – a lifeline sanctioned by the Vatican, despite increased U.S. efforts to keep out illegal immigrants.

“Migration is a human right and migrants are some of the world's most vulnerable people. It is the church's obligation to help them,” said the Rev. Francisco Pellizzari, an Italian-Argentine missionary who runs the Nazareth migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo.

After long treks to the border, often from as far away as Central America, men, women and children at the shelter swap their torn clothes for fresh ones, heal their injuries and telephone family members for cash for their crossing.

The Nuevo Laredo shelter has been granted a papal blessing in a Vatican certificate that hangs proudly on the wall.