For Immediate Release // Please Excuse Cross Posting
Monday, April 21st, 2025
Contact: Palmira Figueroa, 425-301-2764; pfigueroa@ndlon.org
LOS ANGELES, April 21 – The following is a statement from Pablo Alvarado, Co-Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON):
How lucky we were. When we finally saw the arrival of the first Pope from Latin America, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, he turned out to be a Pope of the people, a humble man who steadfastly defended those who live on society’s margins.
Pope Francis said: “I want a Church that is poor and for the poor.”
From his first days in office to his very last, Francis spoke up for immigrants, prisoners, victims of war and famine, homeless people. He spoke up for the old in their loneliness. The sick in their vulnerability. He asked us to imagine ourselves as refugees, to understand their suffering and determination.
He reminded the world – and the United States in particular – that immigrants and refugees possess “the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.”
At a time when so many world leaders carry themselves with displays of aggression, wealth and violence, we thank Francis for being a leader of love and true humility. We are so lucky, and so grateful.
