Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who appears still to be running for president, is making headlines in Iowa for flouting the teachings of the Catholic Church on immigration despite his very public professions of faith. From the Des Moines Register:

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are wrong by calling for comprehensive immigration reform that includes an earned path to legalization, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said today.

The Pennsylvania Republican, who is seeking his party’s nomination for president, said in an interview with Des Moines Register political columnist Kathie Obradovich that the United States is a country of laws and it must enforce those laws.

“If we develop the program like the Catholic bishops suggested we would be creating a huge magnet for people to come in and break the law some more, we’d be inviting people to cross this border, come into this country and with the expectation that they will be able to stay here permanently,” said Santorum, who usually attends Latin Mass with his family at a Catholic church in suburban Washington, D.C.

Read the full article here, and learn more about what the church in the US teaches about immigration here.

Santorum’s views on immigration may clash with his church, but they are in line with the Republican party. The GOP’s apparent frontrunner, fellow Catholic Newt Gingrich, may hold views on immigration that are closer in line with the church. He has been criticized by some for being too soft on immigration: he once said that mass deporation of nearly 11 million men, women, and children would not be “humane.” Read more here. 

Michael J. O’Loughlin is national correspondent at America and author of Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.