Bishop Barron warns that unregulated borders create moral dangers

Bishop Robert Barron, who heads the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, has warned about the moral consequences of leaving borders unregulated. In a recent conversation with commentator Bill O'Reilly, Barron set out the Church's position, which calls for compassionate treatment of immigrants while also recognizing the right of any nation to protect its borders.

Barron said he had seen firsthand the "moral chaos" an open border can produce, and he pointed to the serious problem of human trafficking, particularly the sexual exploitation of children. "The most recent information we have received on this matter shows us that an unregulated border is a morally very dangerous proposition," he said.

Barron also took up the question of preventive war, a subject that has been debated in Church teaching. He said the classical just war doctrine formulated by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas recognized the legitimacy of preventive military action to correct a moral evil.

But over the past 75 years the popes have taken a considerably more restrictive line, holding that war can be justified only in the face of manifest unjust aggression, given how destructive modern armed conflict can be. Barron accepts that shift as part of the legitimate development of Church doctrine.