CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday strongly backed U.S. bishops who condemned the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, as he urged the American folks to take heed to them and deal with migrants humanely.
Historical past’s first American pope was requested concerning the “special message” the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops adopted through the bishops’ normal meeting final week. The textual content criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants and the “vilification” of them within the present migration debate. It lamented the worry and anxiousness immigration raids have sown in communities, and the denial of pastoral care to migrants in detention facilities.
Leo, who has beforehand urged native bishops to take the lead on talking out on issues of social justice, mentioned he appreciated the U.S. bishops’ assertion and urged Catholics and all folks of goodwill to take heed to what they mentioned.
“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,” mentioned the Chicago-born Leo. “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.”
Talking to reporters as he left the papal nation home south of Rome, Leo acknowledged there are issues within the U.S. migration system. However he burdened that nobody has mentioned the U.S. ought to have open borders, and that each nation has the fitting to find out who can enter and the way.
“But 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’s been some violence unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he mentioned.
“I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”
The bishops’ “special message” was uncommon, the primary time since 2013 the bishops had penned such a single-issue assertion at one among their conferences. It was accompanied by an Instagram video of particular person bishops studying the textual content on digital camera, to hammer dwelling its message.
Upcoming journey plans
Leo spoke to reporters gathered exterior his villa in Castel Gandolfo, the place he normally spends Monday afternoons and Tuesdays enjoyable, enjoying tennis and swimming within the property’s indoor pool.
He recommended that he’s planning extra journey beginning in 2026, after his Rome commitments ease up with the finish of the Holy 12 months.
Requested if he would return to Peru, the place he spent some 20 years as a missionary, Leo mentioned “of course.”
However he additionally hinted at different potential locations, together with the Fatima shrine in Portugal, the Guadalupe shrine in Mexico, and visits to Argentina and Uruguay.
“I love to travel, the problem is scheduling with all the commitments,” he mentioned.
Leo subsequent week will embark on his first overseas journey as pope, to Turkey and Lebanon.
AP journalist Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report. Related Press faith protection receives assist by means of the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely chargeable for this content material.
