Pope Leo: You Can’t Be Pro-Life and Mistreat Migrants

In his Jubilee homily, Leo demanded Catholics open arms to immigrants and reject MAGA’s cold indifference.

Pope Leo XIV led Mass in St. Peter’s Square this morning for the Jubilee of the Missions and of Migrants.

In his homily, he urged Catholics to rekindle their missionary vocation and bring “the joy and consolation of the Gospel to everyone,” especially those in difficulty like “our migrant brothers and sisters.”

He insisted migrants must not be greeted with “the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination,” but rather called on believers to open “our arms and hearts” to them as brothers and sisters.

These remarks underscored the pope’s emphasis on compassion and hospitality toward the displaced.

MAGA Has a Pope Leo Problem

Pope Leo challenged the MAGA narrative on life issues beginning on Tuesday night.

He publicly questioned whether those who claim to be pro-life could also support hard-line immigration policies, saying in an interview:

“Someone who says I am against abortion but … champions the inhuman treatment of immigrants … I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

As I told Mike Nellis and Mike Madrid in our Substack Live on Wednesday, Leo provoked Trump’s top allies because he committed the cardinal MAGA sin — telling the truth about the president and his movement.

This week highlighted the central themes of his pontificate:

• Immigrants: He bluntly asked if anti-immigrant policies can really be called pro-life.

• Creation: He declared climate change one of the defining moral issues of our time.

• Poor: Next week, he will release his first apostolic exhortation, expected to focus on the poor, reminding Catholics that serving the least is central to the Gospel.

By linking migrants, the poor, and creation to the pro-life ethic, Leo has moved far beyond partisan slogans and into the heart of Catholic teaching.

A Defining Week for Pope Leo

This Sunday’s Mass completes perhaps the most important week of Leo’s young pontificate.

In just a few days, the pope has confronted MAGA ideology with clarity and courage.

He has said aloud what many Catholics already knew in their conscience: you cannot call yourself pro-life while cheering executions, mistreating immigrants, denying climate change, and mocking the poor.

That is not Catholicism — it is MAGA politics dressed up in piety.

By contrast, Leo offers something deeper and truer: a Church that defends all life, at every stage, and serves all who suffer, without exception.

His upcoming apostolic exhortation will call Christians to stand with the poor, reminding us that the Gospel is measured not by slogans but by love lived in action.

This week was a turning point.

MAGA showed its fury; Leo showed his faith.

And the line between them could not be clearer: Catholic theology and MAGA ideology do not overlap. They never did.

MAGA hijacked American Christianity for one reason only — to be the tool of Donald Trump.

Under the leadership of Pope Leo, we’re reclaiming it for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Make no mistake — evil will not prevail.

Letters from Leo is open to anyone who wants to be informed and inspired by our pope — and to turn that inspiration into action that leaves America and the world more just, less cold, and more alive with hope.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.