Pope Leo tells bishops to take stronger stand on Trump’s immigration stance

Published 08/10/2025, 10:42
© Reuters

Investing.com -- Pope Leo used a meeting with U.S. bishops Wednesday to urge them to confront the Trump administration over the treatment of immigrants, according to Reuters.

During the audience, he was handed dozens of personal letters from immigrants — many from the U.S.–Mexico border region — recounting their fears of deportation under Donald Trump’s policies.

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, a participant in the meeting, said the pope’s concern was deeply personal. “He expressed his desire that the U.S. Bishops’ Conference would speak strongly on this issue,” Seitz told Reuters.

Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has maintained a more measured public persona than Pope Francis but has increasingly engaged on migration.

In late September, he questioned whether Trump’s harsh immigration agenda is consistent with Catholic pro-life doctrine — a remark that stoked criticism from conservative corners.

In his Oct. 5 homily marking a Jubilee for Migrants, Leo framed welcoming migrants as a core Christian mission and challenged Catholics to reject indifference and discrimination.

He emphasized that “those who arrive … cannot and must not find the coldness of indifference.”

Trump has made opposition to undocumented immigration a hallmark of his political career, a theme that has defined his campaigns since the beginning.

When he announced his first run for the presidency in June 2015, Trump sparked controversy by claiming that Mexico was “not sending their best” people to the United States.

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