Pope Leo aghast at Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant mindset, considering Trump’s family is full of immigrants
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Pope Leo, an American by birth, has told United States Bishops to firmly challenge how immigrants are being treated in the country by President Donald Trump, himself a second generation US citizen whose grandparents were immigrants from Germany, his mother from Scotland, and his wife Melania from Slovenia.
Indeed, all of Trump’s children are half American and half foreign, born to him by three women he married at different times – Ivana (1977-1990, Maria (1993-1999), Melania (2005). Melania became a naturalised American in 2006, the year after she married Trump.
His current in-law, Melania’s father, immigrated from Slovenia to the US where he became a naturalised citizen during Trump’s first term in 2018. Melania’s mother also naturalised along with her husband but died in January 2024.
Reuters reports that Leo told bishops visiting him at the Vatican on Wednesday that they should firmly address how immigrants are being treated by Trump’s hardline policies, attendees said, in the latest push by the pontiff on the issue.
Leo – who has a dual citizenship of the U.S. and Peru, and is, therefore – the first U.S. pope, was handed dozens of letters from immigrants describing their fears of deportation under the Trump administration’s policies during the meeting, which included bishops and social workers from the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Our Holy Father … is very personally concerned about these matters,” El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, who took part in the meeting, told Reuters.
“He expressed his desire that the U.S. Bishops’ Conference would speak strongly on this issue. It means a lot to all of us to know of his personal desire that we continue to speak out.”
Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has shown a much more reserved style than his predecessor, who frequently criticised the Trump administration and often spoke in surprise, off-the-cuff remarks.
But Leo has been ramping up his criticism in recent weeks.
The pope questioned on September 30 whether the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies were in line with the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings, in comments that drew heated backlash from some prominent conservative Catholics.
The White House has said Trump was elected based on his many promises, including to deport criminal illegal aliens.
One of the letters given to the pope on Wednesday, shared with Reuters, described a family with two members who did not have legal permission to stay in the U.S. and who were afraid to leave the house for fear of deportation.
“I believe the Pope should speak out openly against the raids and the unfair treatment the community is experiencing,” read the letter, written in Spanish.
Leo also met privately with a group of about 100 American Catholics involved in ministry with migrants on Tuesday evening, thanking them for their work.
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