World Meeting of Popular Movements coordinator Fr. Mattia Ferrari is visiting 21 US cities, where delegates aid at ICE court appearances and enroll immigrants in public healthcare.
Migrants from Venezuela cross the Rio Grande to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting asylum in the United StatesDavid Peinado Romero/Shutterstock.com
(LifeSiteNews) — A priest who coordinates a Marxist-rooted movement founded as “an initiative of Pope Francis” is currently touring 21 U.S. cities with Vatican backing, where his delegation has joined teams to “accompany immigrants” at Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins and enroll in taxpayer-funded public healthcare, with the endorsement of Leo XIV.
Father Mattia Ferrari coordinates the World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM), a Vatican-affiliated initiative with roots in Latin American liberation theology. He is currently midway through a 40-day tour of American cities, meeting with immigrant families, Catholic bishops, and left-wing community organizations.
As reported by Religion News Service, Ferrari’s delegation has “joined diocesan-backed teams to accompany immigrants to court hearings and ICE check-ins” in San Diego, California, functioning as a buffer between illegal immigrants and federal immigration enforcement. In other California stops, the delegation toured farm-worker communities and took part in an effort to “enroll immigrants without legal status in public healthcare.”
The tour, coordinated by a coalition called Catholics in Communion, was organized explicitly to address what the group calls the “pastoral emergency” of mass deportations, according to trip coordinator Cecilia Flores.