Pope Leo XIV Chooses a Refugee as His First Episcopal Appointee in America

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a refugee who fled Communist persecution in Vietnam as a child with his family as the Bishop of Sand Diego, the American Pontiff’s first appointment of a Bishop in America. Pope Leo, the Bishop of Rome, has clearly preached against divisions and in favor of unity and has emphasized Christian love for the poor and marginalized, including migrants and refugees. His first episcopal appointment thus sends a clear message. The new Bishop of San Diego and his auxiliary Bishops will stand with refugees at their asylum hearings on June 20, International Refugee Day. The presence of clergy is a favorable factor for refugees seeking asylum who must prove a credible fear of persecution. As I have posted, the Trump Administration has ended legal protections that had been granted to certain groups of refugees already present and ended legal pathways for refugees seeking asylum in America, while conducting mass deportations of migrants, including some present legally, and even without due process, including refugees seeking court hearings for their asylum claims, for which it has been criticized by various Christian denominations, as well as by employers; lawyers, human rights advocates, and law enforcement officers; and by liberals, libertarians and conservatives.

Latin American Digest: Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, Columbia, and Nicaragua

Bolivia: The Bolivian Government has barred the former left-wing authoritarian President from being a presidential candidate in the August 17 Bolivian presidential election. Bolivia is led by the same Socialist party as the former President, who served three five-year terms, despite a constitutional term limit of two terms and was forced from office by a popular uprising in 2019 when he sought a fourth term. After a period in which a center-right leader held power as the constitutional successor, the Socialists were elected in 2020 to lead the South American State, but the current President and the former President had a falling out. The former President, who has been fomenting civil unrest, is being investigated for crimes. Another member of the ruling party will stand as a presidential candidate instead. Argentina: The former leftwing Peronist President last week was sentenced to prison for corruption and barred for life from holding office. She had been elected as President of the South American State in 2007 and served until 2015, succeeding her husband, who had served the previous four years. She was elected Vice President four years later, serving a four-year term and continued to be the leader of the left-wing party that is one of the legacies of Peronism, named for the Argentine fascist leader Juan Peron. Columbia: Some of the offshoots of the Marxist narco-terrorists since who fought a civil war in Columbia from 1964 until a peace deal in 2016 have continued fighting. There was a deadly flare-up of fighting by one group a few months ago in one part of the South American State near the Venezuelan border and another flareup by another group recently in the southeastern part of Columbia. The war killed tens of thousands of people. Cuba: The United Nations issued a report last week on the many Cuban violations of human rights in its prisons. Communist Cuba holds many political prisoners. After a deal reached with the United States, in which Cuba released some of its political prisoners, two prominent ones were returned to prison. Today, all of the Catholic Bishops of the Caribbean Island State called for structural, social, economic and political changes that are urgently needed amidst the suffering of the Cuban people. Nicaragua: Former Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro died yesterday in exile in Costa Rica at the age of 94. She was elected President in 1990 and served until 1997. Her election ended the civil war that was caused by oppression by the Marxist Sandinista regime that seized power in 1979 after a guerilla war, led by Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinistas. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union backed the Sandinista regime while the U.S. backed the rebels after it became clear the Sandinistas would not share power. Chamorro, like the Sandinistas, had opposed Nicarabua’s Somoza dictatorship that had murdered her husband, the publisher of La Prensa, the only independent newspaper still published in the Central American State. She had been appointed by the Sandinistas as one of two right-wing representatives to the Ortega-led junta that officially ruled until Ortega’s election as President in 1985, but when it became apparent they had no real power, she and the other conservative resigned in 1980. She is credited as President with maintaining a constitutional republic, reestablishing international banking relationships and ending hyperinflation. Ortega was elected President again in 2007, promising not to rule as a dictator again, but he has instead been tyrannical, as I have posted. Chamorro fled the increasing persecution in Nicaragua in 2023.

Foreign Digest: Netherlands, Iran and Syria

Netherlands: The rightwing Dutch Prime Minister resigned earlier this month and the far-right anti-migrant party left the governing coalition because its demands for severely limiting the grant of asylum to refugees were not met by the other coalition parties. The main center-right and two other parties had formed a coalition government for the Netherlands after the far-right party won the most votes and seats in the Dutch parliamentary elections, but fell short of the required majority to govern alone, as I had posted. There will have to be new elections and likely another protracted negotiation to form a coalition government. The Netherlands is an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Iran: The International Atomic Energy Agency censured the Islamic Republic of Iran last week for violating its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. It is the first time in decades that the UN watchdog composed of a number of member States has censured Iran. Iran claims its nuclear program is only for peaceful means, but the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism has enriched uranium beyond the threshold needed for energy production and could assemble nuclear weapons within months. Iran’s threat to increase enrichment in response prompted strikes on its nuclear program by Israel, which the Islamic Republic has repeatedly threatened. As with previous Iranian attacks on Isreal this year, the U.S. and some of its allies are intercepting Iranian missiles and drones targeting the Jewish States. Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy foments Islamist revolution throughout the Islamic world, backing guerillas and terrorists, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. Syria: The United States struck Islamic State targets in Syria last week. The IS is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Sunni Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America that killed a record 3,000 people. The U.S. has maintained since the Syrian Civil War left a power vacuum a small force in northeast Syria against the IS and al-Qaeda and also sometimes strikes Iranian-backed militia when attacked by them. The American forces are being kept there since the fall of Syria’s Assad regime under the leadership of the new Islamist-led government that is cooperating with the U.S. against the IS.

Update: Measles Outbreak in America

Because of vaccine hesitancy caused by anti-vaccine disinformation, the measles outbreak in America continues to worsen, after the disease had been domestically eradicated by the 2000s. There have been nearly 1,100 cases, many hospitalizations and at least 2 deaths. Most cases were of children who were unvaccinated. There are now 30 States reporting cases, between the main outbreak that started in Texas and others. Measles, the most contagious virus, is not the deadliest disease, but can cause serious illness and death, and was the leading cause of deafness before a vaccine was developed. Numerous scientific studies have confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the measles vaccine. Because not everyone can be effectively vaccinated against contagious diseases because of immunity deficiencies, those who cannot are protected if a high percentage of others in the community are vaccinated. America, Europe and Central Asia have been suffering an increase in measles and other diseases that had nearly been locally eradicated because of vaccines. Far-left, far-right and libertarian ideologies oppose vaccination, or at least vaccine mandates, while Russia has deliberately spread anti-vaccine disinformation in the West in an effective biological warfare campaign. Christian and conservative beliefs in personal responsibility toward the community compel vaccination to protect the vulnerable.

Foreign Digest: Venezuela, Romania, Cuba, Poland

Venezuela: There were multiple arrests of opposition figures by the Venezuelan Socialist dictatorship ahead of and during the elections last week. The opposition boycotted the elections because the South American State’s regime does not allow free and fair elections. As I have posted, it did not accept the results of the presidential elections in July, in which the center-right opposition easily won, according to the documentary evidence the opposition secured, international observers, many Latin American States, the United States, and its allies. The boycott was successful in denying legitimacy to the dictatorship, as the rate of abstention exceeded 85%. Romania: The presidential election held a week ago was confirmed by Romania’s election authorities and the new President has been sworn in. He is moderately conservative and is pro-European and pro-Ukrainian. The defeated Russian-backed far-right anti-Ukrainian Trumpist candidate conceded, but then alleged fraud. As I have posted, the first-round vote in December was annulled because of heavy Russian interference on behalf of an unknown candidate with no party and no spending, who came in first, but was later charged with election crimes and barred from running. The Trumpist candidate defeated last week had promised to name the barred candidate prime minister. Romania has thus demonstrated how to thwart attempted Russian interference, instead of acquiescing to it, like the U.S. did in 2016 and again in 2024. Romania, a former Communist and Soviet satellite state, is a strategic U.S. ally as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Cuba: Donald Trump removed temporary protected status from 300,000 Cuban refugees in America, in addition to Venezuelans, Afghans, and others seeking asylum from persecution. Cubans fleeing the Communist tyranny on their Caribbean island State had previously been less restricted than other refugees. Because of their experience of suffering under socialism and dictatorship, Cubans who become naturalized U.S. citizens usually are conservative, register as Republicans and vote for GOP candidates, including Trump. Thus, Trump’s nativist policies, in addition to undermining American security, the economy and the budget, deprive America of the benefit of those who especially appreciate freedom. Poland: The Polish presidential election was held today. The centrist pro-European pro-Ukrainian Mayor of Warsaw backed by the ruling center-right-led coalition was leading against the far-right party candidate whose party was put out of power last year because of its increasing authoritarianism. The far-right candidate was backed by the Trump Administration against the pro-Western candidate. Poland, a former Communist and Soviet satellite state, is a strategic U.S. ally as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.