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Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday delivered another another strong denunciation of the Trump-Vance administration’s immigration crackdown, blasting its recent ICE raids as “extremely disrespectful” to migrant families who have built lives in the U.S.
The history-making American pope urged Americans to “treat people with the dignity that is theirs” instead of ripping communities apart, and he implored the public to heed U.S. Catholic bishops’ pleas for compassion toward immigrants.
This papal rebuke comes just days after the U.S. bishops issued a rare “Special Message” unanimously condemning the White House’s new deportation blitz.
Last week in Baltimore, the bishops blasted “indiscriminate mass deportation” and the “fear and anxiety” sown in immigrant communities, urging President Trump to pursue “meaningful immigration reform” instead.
At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
Pope Leo praised the bishops’ statement as “very important” and said “all people in the United States” should listen to their call for humane treatment of migrants.
While acknowledging that nations have a right to secure their borders, Leo warned that “when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least, and there has been some violence unfortunately
“I think that the Bishops have been very clear in what they said and I think that I was just invite all people in the United States to listen to themling.”
I have reached out to the White House and they have declined to comment on the pope’s remarks.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated in the coming hours.
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