VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 9, 2015
ROME A group of some 20 American community organizers and union leaders are holding meetings with Vatican officials this week to sway Pope Francis into addressing a number of lingering national social justice issues in his upcoming visit to the United States.
Organized by the national faith-based action network PICO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the leaders are meeting with four pontifical councils, the head of two pontifical academies, leadership of two global religious orders, and the executive director of Caritas Internationalis.
Among the key issues they are asking officials to advise the pope to consider discussing with President Barack Obama or during his address to Congress: immigration reform, economic injustice for low-wage workers, pervasive racism in U.S. institutions and society, and mass incarceration.
In an interview Monday at the beginning of their visit, five of the organizers laid out the specific requests they might make to Vatican officials and what brought them to make the trip from various parts of the U.S.
“Pope Francis’ words and example really resonate with people,” said Joseph Fleming, who helped organize the group as the Catholic engagement coordinator for PICO.
The pope, Fleming said, is “speaking to a spiritual hunger that people feel and a sense that things are out of balance. There’s growing economic insecurity and pressures on families that are not being spoken to and addressed.”
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