Open Letter to the Joseph Ratzinger Holy Father, Pope Benedictus XVI

Washington, DC.  January 22, 2010. 

The Holy See
City of Vatican

Joseph Ratzinger
Holy Father, Pope Benedictus XVI

Subject: Hunger Strike for the Miracle of Immigration Reform – Day #30 – Washington, DC. – Health failing.

Attention:
Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi

Embassy Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See

3339 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008

Telephone: (202) 333-7121

Holy Father,

I am humbly seeking your help, Holy Father, and the help of the Church of Jesus, as well, for the immediate Miracle of God so that Immigration Reform in the USA, now long delayed, may be a reality for millions of suffering Christian immigrants.  Millions of undocumented immigrants are in fact Roman Catholic and an Immigration Reform is doubtless in their prayers, probably every day, but they do their prayers under fear of arrest and, generally speaking, without the support of the host population.  Your leadership, Holy Father, is therefore greatly needed to alleviate the suffering of so many faithful Catholics who just don’t happen to have some documents needed to live without fear of arrest in the United States of America.

I Rodolfo Macias, Mexican by birth, architect by training, and credentialed member of the Press.  Working for the media has been a way for me to support my family in Texas, where I timely sought political asylum in the US courts.  Back in Mexico, not only I was kidnapped and tortured by government forces because of political reasons, but my own wife also suffered the same fate. The Mexican government showed an extreme of contempt not only for human rights but also for human dignity when it clandestinely took me to a mental hospital, this is without a judge’s order; as a Christian I did not want to lie and throw away the anti-psychotic medication I undeservedly and without any valid psychiatric reason I was given, so I was forced to take what to me was soul-destroying medication.  The Mexican government further leveled false criminal charges against my person (seven of them), which the Mexican government was arrogant enough to bring, across the border, to a U.S. Immigration court, in order to try to derail my political asylum proceedings. Not much better luck I had in the United States as an undocumented immigrant; also in this nation I was mistreated and imprisoned on less than valid charges and without having committed any crimes at all, all because I claimed that justice is a universal right not dependent on nationality: the police would arrest me, take me to Court, yet the charges would as a rule be withdrawn.  The New York Times has recently published an article about a hundred immigrants having died while in custody by Immigration –now ICE-, this is undocumented immigrants, but no one speaks about their misfortune and suffering except when the media occasionally does it –for a short while, as a rule.  Holy Father, that is the life of millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States of America.

Father, I have been for the last thirty days in a hunger strike just in front of the White House.  It seems to extreme a measure as intended to claim for an Immigration Reform, but I have done already too much seeking support for a cause about which too many people talk but few tackle as a issue worth doing personal sacrifices.  I wish I could say that only politicians and the media have ignored me; the reality is that also the Church has ignored my pleas for support for a cause that ought not to be only my own.  I will next cite the particular incidents and situations in which the Roman Catholic Church, for one reason or the other, has ignored my pleas.  On June 16, 2009, I attended a Texas conference of cardinals and bishops, which out of due respect I did not interrupt.  Waiting for the right opportunity, I politely and correctly requested an interview before the dignitaries, but I was completely ignored.  On August, 2009, I met Archbishop Jose Gomez and Aux. Bishop Carlos Cantu, thus requesting their support for my planned Washington D.C. Hunger Strike; my request included support for a “March for Justice from San Antonio to Washington”, but none of my requests was attended: the dignitaries refused.  Ever since November, 2009, Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Gonzales in Washington D.C. has also ignored my requests for a meeting with Most Reverend Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl to discuss my hunger strike for US Immigration Reform.  True, a Roman Catholic Church dignitary may have little time to spare, but a Church official gazette’s editor has little excuses not to keep his word.  On December, 2009, the editor of the Washington Archdiocese Newspaper, ‘El Pregonero’ Raphael Roncal, has not kept his word.  Three times in three weeks Mr Roncal said: “I will have a reporter interview you, Macias,” yet three times I was not contacted at all.  Finally, in the middle of a hunger strike which is taking its toll on my health, on January 22, 2009, I attended a Mass Pro-Life at the Verizon Center, after having marched against abortion like the rest of the protesters at the Youth Rally and March for Life in Washington D.C.  In deep reverence for the Mass, I respectfully waited until the mass had ended -and the announcements had ended as well- then I stood and delivered letters to the Apostolic Nuncio, to the President of the The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, President, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, of Chicago, and to the Archbishop of Washington D.C.  I was thus seeking to get word to the Church, and to you, Holy Father, begging for the help of the Church for the deliverance of the Miracle of US Immigration reform.  I begged for just 1 minute of Prayer for Immigration Reform, and I handed a letter for you, Holy Father, to your personal Ambassador for this event.  (Please refer to attached letter).

Holy Father, you might make a great difference for the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States.  On February 9, 2010, there will be a call to prayer for all Christian leaders to join the cause of Immigration reform in the United States.  I know, in all humility, that I have no rank to ask you, a Pope, to support this cause by publicly convoking worldwide Catholics and every person or group, to actively endorse the U.S. Immigration reform before February 9, 2010, a date not randomly chosen, but selected because of electoral reasons -2010 is an electoral year, so in two months from now the Immigration issue may be totally forgotten.  But God has a way to touch everyone’s heart, even a Pope’s, so I know there might be a chance that you may possibly announce a plea for all Christians to ask the Almighty for the immediate Miracle of God, so that Immigration Reform in the USA, now long delayed, may be a reality for millions of suffering Christian immigrants.

Lastly, my hunger strike has also the purpose to making President Barak Obama take a stand regarding his controversial oath –January 20, 2009- at the White House.  A Television World Wide shows President Obama delivering his oath with his left hand on a Holy Bible.  As you doubtless know, Chief Justice John Roberts (US Supreme Court) made a ceremonial mistake which caused Barak Obama not to deliver his oath with his left hand on the Bible –not officially so.  To those of us Christians, the video of Obama swearing upon a Bible means that our president places himself and the Nation BELOW God’s authority, through His only and beloved Son: Jesus Christ, thus completing the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  But now we know that the same photo is official yet not Constitutionally binding, this is that Barak Obama’s oath was not made while his left hand was on the Holy Bible, but later on, without the Bible.  President Obama has ever since eluded any public response to the same incident, as if it were one of total insignificance.  But it is not insignificant, for it causes a breach in a long tradition according to which any assuming U.S. President has to take his oath with a hand on a Bible.  As a humble serf of the Almighty, I decided to pledge my own health, with prayers, in order to attract public attention upon a matter which no doubt is of utmost importance to North American Catholics.

Holy Father, help me help Christ, and His least of these in the US. 

I am humbly and faithfully awaiting your response.

Your brother in Christ,
Sincerely yours,

Rodolfo Macias Cabrera
Christian, Servant of God.
Director of San Antonio Newspaper, Inc.
210-409-3341 / www.sanewspaper.com
sanewspaper@yahoo.com

Copy to:
Most Reverend Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl
5001 Eastern Avenue  Hyattsville, MD 20782-3447  /  301-853-4500

Mailing Address:  P.O. Box 29260 Washington, DC 20017-0260 / 301-853-4500

Cardinal Francis George
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, President, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, of Chicago and General Secretariat, Msgr. David Malloy, General Secretary
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 | (202) 541-3000  USCCB.

Attached you will find copy of the letter sent to the US Supreme Court of Justice and the President Barack Obama.

Delivery Confirmation Number:  0309 1140 0001 5923 9933 US Postal             

P. O. Box 27229 Washington, DC 20038-7229. EUA  www.sanewspaper.com  rmc@sanewspaper.com  (210) 409-3341