Social Justice Tag: Nonviolence

May 2025

Articles from Mercy:

• A letter to Pope Francis (Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team)
• Critical Considerations: Is this really an emergency? (Karen Donahue, RSM)
• Trump’s attacks on women (Br Ryan W Roberts, OLF; Institute Justice Team)

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A letter to Pope Francis

Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team

A friend of mine, who is not very sympathetic to the Church, wrote to me this Easter Monday, “Today we are a little more alone in our search for justice.”

Francis you have departed, but as a simple and humble Latin American man who will be remembered by many with affection and gratitude. But for others, you were undesirable as pope for being an ecclesiastic reformer and for being critical of the market system and the business of war.

I don’t have much to add to all that has been said about your life, and in any case your encyclicals will continue to proclaim the Gospel with your voice. But I want to thank you for doing your best to thaw Vatican II so that the Church can be more transparent, poor, inclusive, defender of the impoverished, indigenous, migrants…, respectful of diversity, caring for Mother Earth, less clerical, and more synodal.

Thank you for seeking a more just world and for warning us about the dehumanization and desensitization that prevent us from feeling the pain of others and acting to restore their rights to the many who have been discarded by a system that kills.

Thank you for denouncing the business of wars, the extractivism that is devastating to ecosystems, and the enduring colonialism. Thank you for building channels of dialogue and peace, and for sowing hope, although you did not see much of a harvest.

Thank you for being so Argentine: a lover of soccer, mate, tango, literature, humor, coffee chats, for walking the streets as one of us, for the devotion to Mary.

Francis, rest in love and pray for us, who are called to continue this long journey of transformation of the Church and the world with courage and compassion. I embrace you from your land of Argentina.

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Critical Considerations

Is this really an emergency?

Karen Donahue, RSM

Since taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump has issued eight emergency declarations, bringing the total for his entire presidency (including his first term) to twenty-one. By comparison, George W. Bush issued only sixteen during his eight years in office. These declarations have been issued to justify a number of policies including militarizing our southern border, expanding drilling for fossil fuels and logging on public lands, and imposing tariffs.

In 1976, Congress enacted the National Emergencies Act, legislation that gives the president power to act in sudden, unforeseen crises where the normal legislative process does not provide the speed and/or flexibility circumstances demand. As a protection against presidential overreach, the bill also gave Congress the power to rescind an emergency declaration by a simple majority vote, also known as a legislative vote.

However, in 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that a legislative vote was unconstitutional, thus making it harder for Congress to challenge a presidential emergency declaration. Now, if Congress wants to end a state of emergency it must pass legislation with enough votes to overcome a presidential veto.

There is the real danger that a president could use an emergency declaration to circumvent Congress in an effort to achieve her/his policy goals. For example, during his first term, Donald Trump declared an emergency at the US/Mexico border after Congress failed to appropriate funding for his border wall. Similarly, he is using an emergency declaration (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to impose his tariff scheme. This act can be invoked when the US faces an unusual and extraordinary threat to its national security, foreign policy or economy. US trade relationships, many of long duration or with small countries, hardly meet this standard.

Fearing a presidential power grab, the Founders constructed a complex system of checks and balances. These checks and balances are under severe strain today as the executive branch usurps greater power and Congress seems to be incapable of exercising its constitutional prerogatives.

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Trump’s attacks on women

Br Ryan W Roberts, OLF; Institute Justice Team

Among the many alarming attacks the Trump administration is making against a wide variety of identity categories, one that isn’t receiving as much focus is the coordinated assault on women. One attack is the systematic removal of support for survivors of sexual assault, a group not exclusively but primarily composed of women.

By placing abusers and harassers in positions of power, President Trump creates an environment hostile to women and amenable to control through gender-based violence. Grants and studies are being canceled, data is being removed from publicly accessible spaces, and programs to educate about and reduce sexual violence are being abandoned. Canceling DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, of which women are significant beneficiaries, reduce the resources that empower women’s independence and makes them more vulnerable to all kinds of injustice. False claims that immigrants drive sexual violence perpetuate unnecessary fear and distract from the truth that most survivors knew their attackers.

In many ways, the U.S. government has become an abuser who revictimizes survivors and emboldens those who would choose to harm women. The National Women’s Law Center has summarized some of the ways the Trump administration has jeopardized resources that protect women and support survivors. The article contains links to a number of supporting materials. Women deserve better, and awareness is an important tool in Mercy’s work on the Critical Concern for Women.

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