Bishop Barbarito’s latest “Living the Truth in Love” column for the Palm Beach e-edition of the Florida Catholic reflects on our nation as a land of faith and freedom:
The pope from the land of faith and immigrants
As we celebrate the Fourth of July, we celebrate the foundation of what our great nation is all about. That foundation is about the freedom that every human person possesses as made in the image and likeness of God. As the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, so clearly affirms, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The United States came into existence as a land where immigrant men and women came in order to practice their faith in freedom. Over 150 years after the arrival of the original pilgrims to this land, the Declaration of Independence affirmed what was the intention of the pilgrims who arrived here. The history of our country is rather a short one in terms of the history of the world. However, in its almost 250 years of existence, our nation has always thrived in terms of difficult challenges, presented to the freedom of all men and women who come here. It has become the most prosperous, resourceful and influential nation of the world. Freedom and faith are at the core of who we are, which has led to our tremendous development.
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