Pope Leo urged US bishops to speak out about Trump’s anti-immigration campaign after seeing letters from migrants

Texas bishops on the front lines of US immigration campaign Wednesday met with Pope Leo XIVHe brought him a package of letters from “terrified” immigrant families due to the fear that they and their loved ones would be arrested and deported as a tactic of the Trump administration. Grow increasingly combative.

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz also showed Liu a video detailing the plight of the migrants, telling the Associated Press afterward that Liu pledged to “stand with them” and with Catholic leaders trying to help them.

“He had a few words for us, thanking us for our commitment to migrant peoples, and also saying he hoped the conference of bishops would take up this issue,” said Seitz, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Immigration.

Leo, who was Born in Chicago He’s also a native of Peru, and hasn’t talked much about American politics since his days His name is the leader of the Catholic Churchbut Recently pointed out What he sees are contradictions in debates about abortion, the death penalty and immigration.

“A person who says I’m against abortion but says I support the death penalty is not really pro-life,” he said earlier this month. “Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion, but I agree with the inhumane treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

Catholic leaders in the United States have done just that She denounced the Trump administration’s crackdownseparating families, raising fears, and upending life in American churches and schools serving immigrant communities. The administration defended the campaign as a protection of public safety and national security.

“We don’t want to get into the political fray, we’re not politicians, but we need to teach the faith,” Seitz said, especially the gospel message that recognizes the inherent dignity of all God’s children, care for the poor and welcome of the stranger.

“They are terrified,” he said. “It is a fear that has a long-term impact on people and their lives.”

The letters and videos Seitz brought to Liu detail the fear that even legal immigrants face every day. US citizens, immigrants with legal status and children were among those detained in increasingly rude and aggressive confrontations by federal agents. In Chicago, Liu’s hometown, immigration agents did just that Storming residential complexes with helicopters While the families were sleeping, chemicals were spread near a public school and He put handcuffs on the city official at the hospital.

“They can’t go out,” Maria wrote in one of the letters she delivered to Leo. “They are afraid to go shopping and going to church so they stay at home.” Originally from Guatemala, she has lived in San Francisco for a quarter-century and qualified for asylum years ago, but has relatives in the United States who are not legal.

“The Pope needs to talk to Trump and demand that Trump think about what he is doing to immigrants,” she wrote. “The Pope must plead with Trump and Trump must listen to him. Trump must change what he is doing.”

Shortly before his death, Pope Francis He strongly criticized the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations, warning that forcibly removing people simply because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity.

The first American pope in history followed in Francis’ line. Last weekend, Liu celebrated a special Mass to mark the Holy Year of Migrants, denouncing the “coldness of indifference” and “stigma of discrimination” that migrants desperate to flee violence and suffering often face. When asked by reporters this week about the crackdown in Chicago, Liu declined to comment.

Before he became Pope, Leo, or then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, Posts are often shared on social media Which criticized the Trump administration’s positions on immigration.

On Wednesday, Liu was late to show up with Seitz and a delegation of about a dozen people, including members of the Hope Border Institute, an advocacy group formed in partnership with the Diocese of El Paso. Members of the delegation assured Liu that they would stand with him as they spoke in the Vatican’s reception room.

“Later in the meeting he said, ‘I’ll stand with you,’ so it was a nice little exchange,” Seitz said.

There are rumors in the Vatican that the Pope may consider a visit to the United States as early as next year, when the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. President Trump invited him.

Francis celebrated the famous Mass on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border in 2016, in Ciudad Juarez, where the Mass was broadcast live at the stadium across the border in El Paso.

Seitz was noncommittal when asked if Liu might visit the U.S. side of the border.

“Well, you know you’ll be welcome,” he said.