STRANGER THINGS:

Catholic leaders in the United States are reacting with anger to President Donald J. Trump's newly signed executive order that bars Syrian refugees from entering the country and halts resettlement programs for up to four months and are urging him to reconsider the policy.

"This weekend proved to be a dark moment in U.S. history," Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago said in a statement on Jan. 29. "The executive order to turn away refugees and to close our nation to those, particularly Muslims, fleeing violence, oppression and persecution is contrary to both Catholic and American values."

The liturgy read in churches across America on Sunday said: "Blessed are those who are persecuted."

What clergy said in many pulpits, reacting to President Trump's most recent executive order: "Blessed are the refugees."

The words of the Beatitudes -- the nine blessings recounted in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount -- happened to be prescribed in the liturgical calendar used by Catholics and many Protestants for this week's readings.

After Trump issued an order Friday temporarily barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, clergy across the nation scrapped earlier sermons to build on the lesson and urge parishioners to stand up for what they see as a biblical call to care for "the stranger."

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