In an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns that aired this week, President Trump did not seem troubled by Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of his administration’s immigration policy, despite the White House’s previous pushback against statements from the Holy Father.
Earlier in the fall, a reporter had asked Pope Leo XIV about Cardinal Cupich’s decision to award pro-abortion Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois) with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In response, the Chicago-born pope remarked that, “[s]omeone who says I’m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life…And someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a Catholic, rejected the allegation of inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants by the Trump administration without specifically mentioning the pope.
In the POLITICO interview, President Trump told Burns he hadn’t personally seen those remarks from the Holy Father, but that he would be open to meeting or speaking with him. “Sure, I will. Why not?” he said.
“I’m sure he’s a lovely man. His brother’s a lovely man … Do you know his brother is serious MAGA?” Trump quipped. Before his election as pope, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost had reposted an op-ed criticizing Vice President J.D. Vance for his support of Trump’s immigration policy and questioning his interpretation of the Catholic faith.
For years, President Trump and Pope Francis clashed over immigration issues. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is a practicing Catholic and is imploring USCCB’s leadership to meet with him to understand why “illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”
