Pope Francis took aim at US President Donald Trump’s stringent immigration crackdown on Tuesday, warning that the forceful removal of people solely due to their illegal status strips them of their dignity and “will end badly.”
In a letter to US bishops, the pope directly challenged US Vice President JD Vance’s theological justification for the deportation program.
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“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality,” Francis wrote.
The Argentine Jesuit, who has long prioritized caring for migrants, reaffirmed their right to seek shelter in other lands, citing biblical references such as the Israelites in the Book of Exodus and Jesus Christ’s own experience as a refugee.
“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” he stated. “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”
According to the White House, more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump took office on January 20. While some have been deported, others remain detained in federal prisons or at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
Vance, a Catholic convert, has defended the administration’s crackdown, invoking the medieval Catholic concept of ordo amoris, arguing that it justifies prioritizing Americans’ well-being over migrants. However, in his letter, Francis appeared to correct this interpretation.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the pope wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops had already issued a critical statement regarding Trump’s policies, warning that actions on immigration, foreign aid, the death penalty, and the environment “will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us.”
While Trump and Francis have clashed before—most notably in 2016, when the pope criticized the idea of building a wall at the US-Mexico border—the Vatican has also expressed concerns about other aspects of Trump’s policies.
On Monday, the Vatican’s main charity, Caritas International, condemned the Trump administration’s decision to halt USAID funding, warning that millions could die as a result.
