Latino religious and commercial groups from Chicago will meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican this June, in what is expected to be a meeting where His Holiness will be asked to intercede in favor of illegal immigrants in the US.
The meeting between this group of 12 people and Pope Francis is programmed for June 11 at 3 p.m. in the Vatican, Eduardo Piña, an immigrant activist, told EFE.
The petition will come after the long-expected US immigration reform which might open a way to regulate the immigration status of at least 11 million immigrants has been postponed until further notice.
After six months of the reform project being held back in Congress, republican representative John Boehner has begun to pressure far-right groups in his party to debate the reform, and has openly supported the measure, in what has been interpreted to be a positive sign for the subject of immigration, highlighted USA Today in its website this week.
For this and other reasons, various activists and political analysts expect 2014 to be a good year to finally sign the immigration agreement. However, while this happens, hundreds of undocumented immigrants are deported daily.
This is why the Latino delegation that will meet with the Pope has the mission to deliver a petition to Pope Francis, the first Latin American Pope, to intercede to President Obama and stop the close to a thousand deportations reported daily.
Eduardo Piña told EFE that the delegation hopes to get bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church in the US to promote mobilizations and protests to support an integral immigration reform in the country.
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