By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-10 16:14:28 | Updated at 2025-01-10 20:58:02
4 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // A statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently highlighted the lasting impact of Martin Luther King Jr., ahead of the Jan. 20 memorial holiday.
The statement from USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio highlighted Pope Francis’ words to the U.S. Congress during his apostolic visit to the United States.
“Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his ‘dream’ of full civil and political rights for African Americans,” the Pope said. “That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of ‘dreams.’ Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.”
Archbishop Broglio added to the Pope’s reflection that King’s memorial is a fitting time to reflect on a quote from Letter From a Birmingham Jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“In reflecting on the continuing realities of racial injustice, immigrant families seeking welcome, and economic disparity, these words remind us that we are connected and responsible for each other as we seek to fulfill the dream,” Archbishop Broglio wrote. “As we approach Dr. King’s holiday, let us be inspired by this righteous man’s work and sacrifice to create a more just society for all of God’s children.”
King, a Baptist minister, met with Pope Paul VI on September 19, 1964, according to the New York Times. The Pope supported King’s work for racial justice.
King stated after the meeting, “The Pope made it palpably clear that he is a friend of the Negro people, and asked me to tell the American Negroes that he is committed to the cause of civil rights in the United States.”
In his 1971 apostolic letter Octogesima Aveniens, Pope Paul VI condemned the evils of racism, stating that men rightly reject “the tendency to maintain or introduce legislation or behavior systematically inspired by racialist prejudice.”
“The members of mankind share the same basic rights and duties, as well as the same supernatural destiny,” the Pope continued. “Within a country which belongs to each one, all should be equal before the law, find equal admittance to economic, cultural, civic and social life and benefit from a fair sharing of the nation’s riches.”
