Pope Leo XIV told U.S. bishops to openly state their concerns regarding the Trump administration’s immigration policies on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
During his meeting at the Vatican with the bishops and social workers from the border between the U.S. and Mexico, the pope received letters from migrants regarding their concerns around President Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Since Trump returned to office in January, federal immigration officers have conducted sweeping raids in communities across the country. According to the latest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, the agency has removed more than 71,405 people this year.
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The operations have sparked widespread protests and fears from migrant communities and their supporters. The crackdown has also been met with various legal challenges.
Mark Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, Texas, told Reuters that the pope is “very personally concerned about these matters” and “expressed his desire that the U.S. Bishops’ Conference would speak strongly on this issue.”
The Hill has reached out to the Vatican to confirm the pope’s remarks. The White House referred The Hill to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s response disputing Leo’s stance from last week.
Last month, Leo said that those who are against abortion but in support of the “inhuman treatment of immigrants” in the U.S. are not “pro-life.”
“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion’ but says, ‘I’m in favor of the death penalty,’ is not really pro-life,” the pope told reporters, via EWTN News. “Someone who says that, ‘I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
On Tuesday, the Vatican announced that the pope will make the first international trip of his papacy to Turkey and Lebanon from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.
Updated at 5:34 p.m. EDT