Pope Tries to Influence US Election with Border Stunt

We await the day he endorses Sanders. Dallas Morning News:

EL PASO — Anticipation is high for Pope Francis’ visit to the Rio Grande on Wednesday.

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In his first speech to the church hierarchy over the weekend in Mexico City, Francis wasted little time in addressing the plight of migrants. “So many families are separated,” he said, “and integration into the supposedly ‘promised land’ is not always as easy as some believe.”

From the beginning of his pontificate, Francis, himself the son of immigrants, has made the treatment of migrants and refugees worldwide a priority. His first travel outside Rome was to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where boatloads of asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa had been landing.

Catholic officials have said the pope’s original plan was to cross the U.S.-Mexico border during his visit as a symbolic gesture of unity, but security and logistical barriers put an end to that idea. U.S. authorities were fearful that such a move would bring an onslaught of people across the border.

The closest Francis will get to the United States is about 50 yards from El Paso.

Across the river and through the fences, a limited group of “Francis VIPs,” including unauthorized immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, will assemble along the border and await the pope’s blessing. Centeno and her children will be on the banks of the Rio Grande, accompanied by Ruben Garcia, founder and director of Annunciation House, a shelter for unauthorized migrants and part of a Catholic volunteer network.