Pope Leo calls for world free from persecution while honoring Holocaust victims
Pope Leo made an appeal for a world free from antisemitism, prejudice, oppression and persecution Wednesday before linking the message to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was observed the day before.
Speaking at the conclusion of his weekly audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the pope recalled the Jan. 27 commemoration honoring the millions of Jews and others murdered.
Pope Leo called it an “annual occasion of painful remembrance” and urged the international community to remain vigilant so that “the horror of genocide may never again be inflicted upon any people” and so that societies rooted in “mutual respect and the common good” can be built.
RABBI ATTACKED ON NYC STREET ON INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
“I ask the Almighty for the gift of a world no longer marked by antisemitism, nor by prejudice, oppression and persecution against any human being,” the pope said.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.
The Holocaust resulted in the systematic murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II.
ANTISEMITISM IS BECOMING ‘NORMAL,’ WITH JEWISH TEENS PAYING THE PRICE
On Jan. 27, as he left his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Leo also spoke to reporters.
When asked about rising tensions in the Middle East and the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the region amid protests and killings in Iran at the hands of its regime, Leo emphasized the need “to pray hard for peace.”
“We little ones can raise our voices and always seek dialogue rather than violence to resolve problems, especially on this day that commemorates the Shoah,” he added.
In a post on X marking the Holocaust memorial, Pope Leo reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to the principles outlined in Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration rejecting all forms of antisemitism.
WHY HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE MATTERS AS HISTORY IS REWRITTEN AND ANTISEMITISM SURGES
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
He stressed that the church “rejects any discrimination or harassment based on ethnicity, language, nationality or religion” and encouraged dialogue rather than violence as a means toward solving conflicts.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Vatican for comment.
Rabbi attacked on NYC street on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
A rabbi was attacked in New York City on Tuesday, coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in what local officials described as a “targeted act of hate.”
The assault happened just before 3 p.m. at an intersection in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, the New York City Police Department said.
Responding officers found a 32-year-old male victim who had been approached by an unknown individual who made antisemitic comments. After a verbal dispute, the individual then punched the victim in the chest and face, according to police. The victim, who community leaders identified as a rabbi, was treated for minor injuries, while officers took the suspect into custody.
Police identified the suspect as Eric Zafra-Grosso, 32, of Queens. He faces charges of hate crime assault, hate crime aggravated harassment and assault causing injury.
ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATOR ACCUSED OF VIOLENTLY ATTACKING JEWISH PROTESTERS LEARNS HIS FATE
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, New York State Sens. Joseph Addabbo Jr. and Leroy Comrie Jr., New York State Assemblymembers Andrew Hevesi and Sam Berger, and New York City Council Member Lynn Schulman issued a joint statement condemning the attack.
“We are outraged by the antisemitic attack that occurred in our district, in which a Rabbi was verbally harassed, physically assaulted, and threatened for being Jewish,” the statement said. “This was a targeted act of hate, and it has no place in our community or anywhere in New York City.”
NETANYAHU SOUNDS ALARM ON ANTISEMITISM AT HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY GATHERING
“No one should ever fear for their safety because of their religion, identity, or beliefs,” the lawmakers said in the statement. “The rise in antisemitic incidents across our city and country is deeply concerning, and this attack — occurring on Holocaust Remembrance Day — underscores the urgent responsibility we all share to confront hate before it escalates into violence.”
According to public data from the NYPD, there have been 22 reported hate crimes in New York City from the start of the year through Jan. 25.
Antisemitic incidents comprised 62% of all hate crimes in the city during the first quarter of 2025, according to a report released last month by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“I was disgusted to learn of yet another antisemitic attack in New York City, this time on a rabbi in Queens during International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted on X Wednesday morning. “As we commemorate the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, we must recognize that antisemitism is still alive and on the rise today. It is imperative we do everything in our power to combat these rancid acts of antisemitism and hate in all its forms.”
Schumer added that he is “grateful” the rabbi is okay and thanked the NYPD.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted that he was “horrified” by the attack.
“On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, New Yorkers were confronted with a painful truth: antisemitism is not a thing of the past—it is a present danger that demands action from all of us,” Mamdani said. “There is no place for antisemitism in our city. I stand in solidarity with Jewish New Yorkers and my administration is committed to rooting out this hatred.”
New book claims Shakespeare was actually a Black, Jewish woman poet named Emilia Bassano
The author of a new book about William Shakespeare is claiming that the works of the famed playwright were actually written by a Black, Jewish woman.
The book, titled, “The Real Shakespeare: Emilia Bassano Willoughby” by Irene Coslet, argues that Shakespeare was actually Emilia Bassano, a Jewish, dark-skinned woman who was an English poet during the Elizabethan period.
The Amazon description for the book, which says it is set to be released March 30, questions if Shakespeare was indeed “a white man from Stratford.”
DAVID MARCUS: TURNS OUT, ‘6-7’ HAS A HISTORY THAT GOES BACK TO MEDIEVAL TIMES
“Debate still rages over the identity of the most beloved poet of all time and ‘father’ of the English-speaking world,” the description reads. “Generations of researchers have tried to dismantle the myth of the Stratford man. Now, in this intriguing and well-documented book, Irene Coslet conclusively demonstrates that Shakespeare was a not a man, but a woman: a dark-skinned lady, of Jewish origin, born into a family of Court musicians from Venice, and the mother of the English-speaking world. Her name was Emilia Bassano.”
According to the description, Coslet’s conclusions are based on “re-examination of often-overlooked historical documents, shrewd, chilling, and profound, this volume offers extensive evidence that Emilia was the author of the canon.”
The description also says the book is not just about the debate over whom the writings of Shakespeare should be attributed to, but “about the condition of women at the time Shakespeare was writing. It explains that feminism already existed in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. It reveals not only that Shakespeare was a woman, but also that she defended women. It reintegrates Emilia in the context of the time, for example, by exploring the relationship between Emilia and Queen Elizabeth I.”
ST PAUL PASTOR DENOUNCES ANTI-ICE AGITATORS WHO DISRUPTED CHURCH SERVICE, SAYS ‘WE’RE HERE TO WORSHIP JESUS’
Shakespeare, who lived from 1564 to 1616, is perhaps the most famous writer in the English language. His poetry and plays continue to be taught and performed centuries after his death.
Given his fame and the depth of his work, his life has been the subject of extensive analysis, leading at times to conspiracy theories that he was a fraud or was a pen name for another person.
Historical records indicate Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, and had three children with her, Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.
Fox News Digital reached out to Coslet’s publisher for comment.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America
Sen. Ted Cruz called for the U.S. to arm Iranian protesters Tuesday as unrest continues inside the nation and Iran-backed militias issued threats against Washington.
“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW,” Cruz wrote in a post on X.
“For the Iranian people to overthrow the Ayatollah — a tyrant who routinely chants ‘death to America’ — would make America much, much safer,” the Texas Republican added.
Cruz was responding to another post from Tehran Bureau, which cited a source inside Iran detailing what was described as a rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground as security forces continued to crack down on demonstrations.
IRAN WILL RETALIATE ‘WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE’ IF US ATTACKS, SENIOR DIPLOMAT WARNS
“From trusted source in Tehran: Tell all of your friends [abroad] — everyone you know: there is absolutely nothing else we can do here inside Iran,” the post read.
“They are killing people in such ways, they’ve descended upon people so brutally, they’re attacking us in such ways… We’ve lost so many lives that no one dares go out anymore. They shoot directly with bullets. They kill outright. And even after killing, they come and behead you, and do countless other violent things to you,” it continued.
“Going out into the streets is literally suicide. It’s not about bravery anymore. It’s madness. You go out and they shoot you point-blank. They don’t even ask why you came. They just kill you,” the post continued. “There is absolutely no way for us to gather unless we had weapons, unless we were armed like them. Otherwise they have weapons everywhere.”
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, activist groups estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Iran, with additional cases still under review.
The protests began in late December amid widespread anger over economic hardship, political repression and corruption, according to reports.
IRAN REGIME REPORTEDLY ISSUED NATIONWIDE SHOOT-TO-KILL ORDERS AS PROTEST DEATH TOLL SURGES
Cruz’s post came after armed militias aligned with Iran warned the U.S. they would retaliate against any American attack on the Islamic Republic, as the Trump administration moved forces into the region.
Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” if the U.S. attacked Iran, according to The Associated Press.
Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the group’s leader, said the “enemies” of the Islamic Republic would face “the bitterest forms of death.”
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES THOUSANDS KILLED AS TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP: REPORTS
“You will taste every form of deadly suffering, nothing of you will remain in our region, and we will strike terror in your hearts,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis also threatened to restart attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, releasing a video Monday showing a ship engulfed in flames, captioned: “Soon,” The Associated Press reported.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, President Donald Trump said Iran appeared to be seeking negotiations with the U.S. amid the growing military buildup, telling Axios, “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East on Monday as unrest inside Iran continued to escalate.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sen. Ted Cruz for comment.
Duke Divinity School offers course asking, can ‘theology be queered?’
A course offered by Duke Divinity School is exploring “queer theology,” and whether “theology can be queered.”
The course, “From Baptismal Font to Queer Theology,” “examines and excavates ‘queer’ in relationship to theology and theory.”
Offered by the Durham, North Carolina-based school, the course description asks questions such as, “Is queer driven by identity politics, an umbrella term for sexual identity, gender identity, antinormativity politics, social locations, or is queer descriptive of something entirely different?”
MOST RADICAL COURSES, CURRICULUM THAT RECEIVED FEDERAL FUNDING IN 2025
Other questions to be examined include, “Does queer have an agenda? Secondly, this course seeks to answer the question of whether or not theology can be queered? What would that result, if that is something that is possible? What is queer theology? Is queer theology even possible?”
According to the course page, students will “develop strategies for asking questions in a way that broadens the discussion of queerness and theology for a productive intervention in the discipline of constructive theology seeking to hold faithfully to the intersecting realities of church, tradition, and scripture.”
The school’s website says, “Grounded in Christian Scripture and theology and guided by our desire to embody a faithful witness in a changing world, we seek to cultivate innovative approaches to ministry in its many forms.”
The course was flagged in an article by Campus Reform.
UNIVERSITY DROPS JOB POSTING AFTER DEI REQUIREMENT EXPOSED, PROFESSOR SAYS ‘I WOULD NOT BE HIRED’ TODAY
The school adds that it strives for a theological vision “that is neither narrow nor homogeneous, but one that is deeply rooted in critical engagement with Scripture and honors a range of theological traditions in conversation with a plurality of historical, geographic, and social settings.”
Another offered course is called “Queering the Old Testament” which explores “ways to interpret the Old Testament that acknowledge the diversity of gender expressions and honor the experiences and hermeneutical perspectives of sexual minorities and gender-nonconforming individuals.”
Fox News Digital reached out to a representative of the school for comment.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NAMES NEW PRESIDENT THAT WILL TAKE OVER IN JULY 2026 AMID FEDERAL SCRUTINY
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Iranian security forces gun down amateur boxer near Tehran: source
An Iranian amateur boxer has been shot and killed by Iranian security forces during ongoing anti-regime protests.
Sepehr Ebrahimi joined protests near Tehran and died amid ongoing demonstrations driven by anger over political repression, economic hardship, and human rights violations.
Ebrahimi’s death also renewed attention on the case of another Iranian boxer, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, who is currently on death row.
Vafaei Sani, now 30, is a champion boxer who was arrested in 2020 for participating in nationwide pro-democracy protests.
Iranian authorities accused him of supporting the opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).
IRAN LOCKS NATION INTO ‘DARKER’ DIGITAL BLACKOUT, VIEWING INTERNET AS AN ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’
Meanwhile, harrowing footage has also been circulating online showing the distraught father of another youth, Sepehr Shekari who was also shot by security forces.
The video shows Shekari’s father desperately searching among piles of bodies covered with black body bags, crying out for his missing son.
“Sepehr was shot and killed in Tehran,” Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.
Video shared on social media, which was viewed by Fox News Digital, shows Shekari’s father calling out his son’s name as he searches a warehouse filled with unidentified bodies following a violent crackdown on demonstrators.
KHAMENEI CALLS TRUMP A ‘CRIMINAL,’ BLAMES HIM FOR DEADLY PROTESTS SWEEPING IRAN
“My dear Sepehr, where are you?” the father can be heard crying. At one point, he shouts, “Damn Khamenei. They have killed the children of so many people. You killed so many young people!”
According to Safavi, Ebrahimi and Shekari were shot with live ammunition by Iran’s security forces during protests against the clerical regime that began Dec. 28.
Shekari’s family spent an agonizing week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention facilities before finally identifying his body among piles of corpses, also shown in the viral footage.
Maryam Rajavi, NCRI president-elect also shared a post on X dedicated to parents of those murdered by the regime. “You are not alone,” she wrote, “Every heart beats with you,” she added.
IRANIAN SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR REFUSING TO FIRE ON PROTESTERS DURING NATIONWIDE UNREST
Rights organizations also continue to highlight the plight of Vafaei Sani who has spent five years in prison, during which he has reportedly been tortured and held in prolonged solitary confinement.
In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and international organizations sent a letter to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, urging urgent intervention to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution.
His death sentence echoes the case of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020.
The death of Ebrahimi and others comes as Iran’s protest-related death toll continues to rise.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 6,126 people have been killed since the start of the latest wave of protests.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
HRANA also reported that 214 government-affiliated forces and 49 civilians have also been killed, while more than 17,000 deaths remain under investigation.
Another Christian community at risk in Africa as extremists and war take their toll
Christians in Sudan are facing daily hunger, misery and terror. The new Open Doors World Watch List for 2026, which ranks the worst countries in the world for the persecution of Christians, placed the country at No. 4, up one place from last year’s report.
There are an estimated 2 million Christians in the conflict-ridden northeastern African country. Sudan’s civil war has raged past the 1,000-day milestone with 150,000 people reportedly killed and more than 13 million displaced. Christians have lived in Sudan since the late first century.
Many of Sudan’s Christians live in the Nuba Mountains, part of the Kordofan region.
Rafat Samir, general secretary of the Sudan Evangelical Alliance, told Fox News Digital that the “Nuba Mountains now, where the majority of our church members are coming from, is under siege and bombing every day for the last six months or seven months. Last week, after Christmas, they bombed our church, hospital and school.”
NIGERIA NAMED EPICENTER OF GLOBAL KILLINGS OF CHRISTIANS OVER FAITH IN 2025, REPORT SAYS
Adding to the misery, a report by MEMRI citing Christian Daily international, said 11 Sudanese Christians were killed as they took part in a procession to their church for a religious celebration on Christmas Day by a drone operated by the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces. Eighteen others were injured in the attack. MEMRI reported the SAF are backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Since the April 2023 outbreak of conflict in Sudan, we have witnessed significant backsliding in Sudan’s overall respect for fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom. This backsliding especially impacts Sudan’s oppressed ethnic and religious populations, including Christians.”
In a Fox News Digital report last year, Christians were said to be eating grass to survive. Samir says the situation is even more bleak in 2026.
“Even the grass is gone now,” he said.
“The conflict is accelerating the erasure of ancient Christian communities and sacred heritage,” Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. “These losses will be far harder to reverse than the rebuilding of roads or ministries once the guns fall silent.”
CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN SYSTEMATIC KIDNAPPING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA BY JIHADI HERDSMEN, EXPERTS SAY
Ideologically, Sudan’s Christians face a hostile future, Samir said.
“Both sides in the civil conflict are daughters of the Islamist movement in Sudan, and the Islamic ideology of both of them is to not have tolerance for others,” Samir said. “They consider everyone different from them is against them. The Christian is considered their enemy as part of their religious ideology, and opposing them is their religious duty.
“So, whoever does something to harm Christians is considered favorable to the law or to Allah. The country is getting back to the dark ages.”
Repeated and continuing attempts at getting the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the opposing militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to reach a ceasefire have failed. Both sides admit they are still fighting and clearly killing civilians with sustained energy, particularly in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, home to many Christians.
“The United States is committed to ending the horrific conflict in Sudan,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working with our allies and others to facilitate a humanitarian truce and bring an end to external military support to the parties which is fueling the violence. President Trump wants peace in Sudan.
“The suffering of civilians has reached catastrophic levels, with millions lacking food, water and medical care. Every day of continued fighting costs more innocent lives. The war in Sudan is an enduring threat to regional stability.”
The U.N. says fighting is escalating in Kordofan, with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk telling reporters in Port Sudan Jan. 18, “I am very worried that the atrocity crimes committed during and after the takeover of El Fasher are at grave risk of repeating themselves in the Kordofan region, where the conflict has been rapidly escalating since late October.
US AMBASSADOR MICHAEL WALTZ DECLARES ATROCITIES AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA ‘GENOCIDE’
“The Kordofan states are extremely volatile,” he continued, “with relentless military engagements, heavy shelling, drone bombardments and airstrikes causing widespread destruction and collapse of essential services.”
Wahba said that “while the United States remains kinetically active across neighboring theaters, it is unlikely to wade directly into Sudan’s civil war.”
“President Trump”, Wahba added, “has signaled a clear desire to see the conflict resolved — an objective echoed by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia — but translating that consensus into outcomes on the ground has proven far more difficult than the rhetoric suggests.”
“For now,” Wahba continued, “U.S. policy is centered on convening regional stakeholders and pressing for alignment among them, while prioritizing humanitarian corridors, aid delivery and coordination with partners willing to host talks. Washington is acting as a facilitator, not an enforcer.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“This posture reflects both constraint and caution. Sudan presents few reliable leverage points, no unified opposition partner, and (there’s) little appetite in Congress or the White House for another open-ended entanglement in a fragmented civil war. The result is a policy that remains fluid and reactive, and is shaped less by strategy than by crisis management,” she said.
Despite everything, the Sudan Evangelical Alliance’s Samir has hope.
“The Holy Spirit is moving and God’s hand is working in our country,” Samir said. ” I can tell you through this evil, this darkness, the light of love of our God is lighting in many hearts. The devil is stealing people to death every day. We pray that (they) let us Christians live for one day more, for one day more to proclaim Jesus’s message.”
Iran accused of sex assaults on teenage prisoners, while families charged to recover remains of loved ones
Reports have emerged from eyewitnesses in Iran alleging sexual assaults on teenagers held in custody, as well as authorities forcing families of those protesters killed to pay as much as 10 billion rials to recover their bodies.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) told Fox News Digital Wednesday that the “barbarity continues” across the nation, with prison detainees allegedly being killed and their bodies burned.
The reports come as Iran’s government claimed it had successfully crushed weeks of unrest that swept the country.
Beginning Dec. 28, the protests erupted amid deep public anger over political repression, economic hardship and state violence before rapidly expanding nationwide.
LINDSEY GRAHAM SPEAKS AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF 26-YEAR-OLD IRANIAN PROTESTER: ‘THIS REGIME MUST FALL’
“The sedition is over now,” Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi said, according to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency.
“And we must be grateful, as always, to the people who extinguished this sedition by being in the field in a timely manner,” he added, according to The New York Times.
The regime’s claims emerged on day 25 of the protests with the number of confirmed fatalities reaching 4,902, and the number of deaths still under review standing at 9,387.
The total number of arrests has risen to 26,541, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.
IRAN STATE TV HACKED TO SHOW EXILED CROWN PRINCE PAHLAVI
The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) also said it received information indicating that some families were forced to pay sums of up to 10 billion rials to recover the bodies of their relatives.
In many cases, funeral ceremonies were held under heavy security control in the hometowns of those killed.
Some families were reportedly subjected to threats and pressure to falsely attribute responsibility for the killings to protesters.
KHRN further said that two protesters, including a 16-year-old, said they were sexually assaulted by Iranian security forces who detained them in Kermanshah, according to reports.
G7 THREATENS IRAN WITH NEW SANCTIONS OVER NATIONWIDE PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLING THOUSANDS
Meanwhile, NCRI’s Ali Safavi said eyewitnesses reported that “several young women and men were forced to undress, so the military could see whether they had pellet wounds.”
“There has been barbarity with people who were detained. When they were killed, their bodies were burned,” he added.
Safavi also said clashes continued in multiple cities Tuesday night, including “Kermanshah where protesters and armed units of the IRGC fought in parts of the city.”
“There was the same in Rasht and Mashhad where the people and the regime will not return to the status quo even if the uprisings have slowed down. This is because of the blood of thousands of martyrs on their hands.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“The regime is still in power, and it won’t abandon brutal and bloody suppression so there is no pathway to a velvet revolution in Iran.”
“The shoes and sneakers seen left along the sidewalks remind us of the 30,000 MEK members and Iranian prisoners who were hanged during the 1988 massacre based on a fatwa by Khomeini,” Safavi added.
BISHOP BARRON: Minnesota’s crises demand real change, not more division
As a resident of Minnesota and as the bishop of the diocese of Winona-Rochester, I’ve been just heartbroken about the present situation in my home state. We seem to be lurching from crisis to crisis, with little hope of resolution. The atmosphere is thick with corruption, violence, threats of retribution, angry shouting and scapegoating.
The two outrages that dominate are, of course, the massive institutional corruption that has been revealed over the last several months and the recent incursion of ICE agents that has inspired passionate protest. I will address the latter issue in due course, and I am reluctant to permit it to distract attention from the first.
It appears certain that hundreds of millions of dollars have been siphoned from the taxpayers of Minnesota through one of the greatest public frauds ever perpetrated in our country. Enormous amounts of money were directed to phony front organizations and then to fraudsters both inside Minnesota and outside the country. One of the most disturbing features of this episode is that a journalist, Christopher F. Rufo, and Nick Shirley, an independent investigative reporter, broke the case by doing what ordinary inspectors and public officials in the state should have been doing for years: simply verifying where the money was going.
ANTI-ICE AGITATORS DISRUPT MINNESOTA CHURCH, SHOUT DOWN WORSHIPPERS DURING SUNDAY SERVICE
I realize that, to some, this kind of financial malfeasance can seem a relatively harmless “white-collar” crime, but nothing could be further from the truth. Catholic social teaching is adamant that public corruption constitutes a grave threat to society and especially to the poor. It undermines confidence in our leaders and the political process, compromises the integrity of the institutions of government and subverts the rule of law. Even more importantly, it deeply harms those most in need, effectively stealing resources from them and blocking essential services such as health care and education.
Moreover, if the kind of fraud on display in Minnesota is discovered in other states as well, we are dealing with an astonishing violation of human rights and an attack on the needy. I would sincerely hope that opposition to this sort of evil should not be a matter of partisan politics. I see no reason why Democrats, Republicans, independents and progressives shouldn’t stand shoulder to shoulder in confronting this corruption.
Alas, Minnesota’s turmoil does not end with financial scandal alone. The tragic shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent during a federal immigration enforcement operation — and the ensuing protests and clashes between demonstrators, local officials and federal agents — has heightened tensions and brought yet another crisis to the forefront of public life in our state.
The situation is being driven by a volatile mix of illegal immigrants, political leaders, protesters and federal agents all colliding in the same small space at the same time. In response to the crisis prompted by the arrival of ICE agents in large numbers in Minnesota, might I make some simple suggestions?
BORDER PATROL COMMANDER VOWS CONTINUED TEAR GAS USE AFTER MINNESOTA JUDGE’S ORDER
First, along with my brother bishops, I strongly defend our nation’s right to maintain the border and to enforce immigration regulations. I do not subscribe to the effectively open border policy that held sway during the Biden administration. But, at the same time, I think that ICE operations should be limited to rounding up only undocumented people who have committed serious crimes. I understand that anyone who has entered the country without documentation has committed a crime, but I believe that ICE raids against such people are simply too blunt an instrument.
The status of illegal immigrants who have lived productively and peacefully in our country for many years should be a matter for political adjudication and not aggressive police action. The riots in Minneapolis and elsewhere in the country prove that the American people are ill at ease with the present policy.
At the same time, I would urge the political leadership in the state of Minnesota to stop stirring up resentment against federal officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of our country. The comparison of these oft-beleaguered individuals to Nazis and fascists and Gestapo agents is morally heinous and directly productive of violence. I was particularly appalled when the mayor of Minneapolis suggested that the municipal police ought to fight ICE agents and when the governor of Minnesota urged ordinary citizens to warn their neighbors of the presence of ICE agents and to film their “atrocities.” All such rhetoric is utterly contraindicated.
I would add this as well: These operations are made far more chaotic because Minnesota and Minneapolis officials refuse to share information with federal law enforcement and refuse to support ICE operations by doing such basic things as crowd control and arresting or moving people who try to box in ICE agents. If local authorities had done their duty in this regard, the likelihood of dangerous face-to-face confrontations would have been significantly diminished.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Similarly, though I am in no position to adjudicate every tactical decision, ICE agents should follow established protocol and not stand in front of a running vehicle. Finally, though I strongly support the right to engage in peaceful public protest, I urge protesters not to interfere directly with the work of ICE officials. Speaking one’s mind is one thing, but getting in the way of police vehicles or inserting oneself in situations where armed officers are present is inviting tragedy.
Everyone on all sides of this issue must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents. Vigorous public conversation and honest debate are essential features of our democracy. Vitriol, scapegoating, insults, and impugning of motives are not. We quickly have to make some changes because where we are right now in Minnesota is untenable.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM BISHOP ROBERT BARRON