Pope rebukes Trump administration over migrant deportations, and appears to take direct aim at Vance

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis issued a large rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants, informing that the forceful removal of radical purely due to the fact that of their amerciable presumption deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will extremity badly.”

Francis took the singular measurement of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown successful a missive to U.S. bishops successful which helium appeared to instrumentality nonstop purpose astatine Vice President JD Vance’s defence of the deportation program connected theological grounds.

History’s archetypal Latin American pope has agelong made caring for migrants a precedence of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, beforehand and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poorness and clime disasters. Francis has besides said governments are expected to bash truthful to the limits of their capacity.

The Argentine Jesuit and President Donald Trump person agelong sparred implicit migration, including earlier Trump’s archetypal medication erstwhile Francis famously said anyone who builds a partition to support retired migrants was “not a Christian.”

In the letter, Francis said nations person the close to support themselves and support their communities harmless from criminals.

“That said, the enactment of deporting radical who successful galore cases person near their ain onshore for reasons of utmost poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution oregon superior deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of galore men and women, and of full families, and places them successful a authorities of peculiar vulnerability and defenselessness,” helium wrote.

Citing the biblical stories of migration, the radical of Israel, the Book of Exodus and Jesus Christ’s ain experience, Francis affirmed the close of radical to question structure and information successful different lands and said helium was acrophobic with what is going connected successful the United States.

“I person followed intimately the large situation that is taking spot successful the United States with the initiation of a programme of wide deportations,” Francis wrote. “The rightly formed conscience cannot neglect to marque a captious judgement and explicit its disagreement with immoderate measurement that tacitly oregon explicitly identifies the amerciable presumption of immoderate migrants with criminality.”

It is 1 happening to make a argumentation to modulate migration legally, it is different to expel radical purely connected the ground of their amerciable status, helium wrote.

“What is built connected the ground of force, and not connected the information astir the adjacent dignity of each quality being, begins severely and volition extremity badly,” helium said.

White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said past week that much than 8,000 radical had been arrested successful migration enforcement actions since Trump took bureau Jan. 20. Some person been deported, others are being held successful national prisons and inactive others are being held astatine the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base successful Cuba.

Vance, a Catholic convert, has defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a conception from medieval Catholic theology known successful Latin arsenic “ordo amoris.” He has contended that the conception delineates a hierarchy of attraction — to household first, followed by neighbor, community, chap citizens and lastly those elsewhere.

In his letter, Francis appeared to close Vance’s knowing of the concept.

Pope Francis presides implicit a wide for the jubilee of the equipped forces successful St. Peter’s Square astatine The Vatican, Sunday Feb.9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

“Christian emotion is not a concentric enlargement of interests that small by small widen to different persons and groups,” helium wrote. “The existent ordo amoris that indispensable beryllium promoted is that which we observe by meditating perpetually connected the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating connected the emotion that builds a fraternity unfastened to all, without exception.”

David Gibson, manager of the halfway for religion and civilization astatine Fordham University, said successful a societal media station that Francis’ missive “takes purpose astatine each azygous absurd theological assertion by JD Vance and his allies successful blimpish Catholicism (and the Catholic electorate).”

“This is the pope besides straight countering misinformation astir the Catholic religion that is being expounded by the Catholic vice president,” helium added to The Associated Press. “And it is the pope supporting the bishops arsenic well.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had already enactment retired an unusually captious connection aft Trump’s archetypal enforcement orders. It said those “focused connected the attraction of immigrants and refugees, overseas aid, enlargement of the decease penalty, and the environment, are profoundly troubling and volition person antagonistic consequences, galore of which volition harm the astir susceptible among us.”

It was a beardown rebuke from the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, which considers termination to beryllium the “preeminent priority” for Catholic voters and had cheered the 2022 Supreme Court determination to end law protections for abortion that was made imaginable by Trump-appointed justices. Trump won 54% of Catholic voters successful the 2024 election, a wider borderline than the 50% successful the 2020 predetermination won by President Joe Biden, a Catholic.

The Trump-Francis collision people connected migration dates to the 2016 statesmanlike campaign, erstwhile Francis traveled to the U.S. Mexico borderline and said anyone who builds a partition alternatively than a span to support retired migrants was “not a Christian.” He made the remark aft celebrating Mass astatine the border.

But migration is not the lone country of struggle successful U.S.-Vatican relations.

On Monday, the Vatican’s main foundation Caritas International warned that millions of radical could dice arsenic a effect of the “ruthless” U.S. determination to “recklessly” halt USAID funding. Caritas asked governments to urgently telephone connected the Trump medication to reverse course.

It’s not antithetic for a pope to code a country’s bishops oregon faithful to present a circumstantial message. Francis wrote to German Catholics successful 2019 to explicit interest astir the German church’s betterment process. He wrote to the faithful of the Middle East and successful Ukraine past twelvemonth to explicit his solidarity successful a clip of war. Pope Benedict XVI wrote to the Irish faithful successful 2010 pursuing the devastating revelations of the country’s clergy intersexual maltreatment crisis.

But it’s uncommon for a pope to measurement successful connected a circumstantial governmental programme of a state with specified a letter, though migration is surely an contented that the U.S. Catholic Church has agelong had astatine the forefront of its agenda.

Associated Press religion sum receives enactment done the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with backing from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely liable for this content. Follow AP’s planetary migration sum at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Originally Published: February 11, 2025 astatine 8:45 AM EST