Pope Francis says U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promised large-scale deportation operation of undocumented migrants would be “a calamity”.
Mr. Trump, who returns to the White House on Monday, has pledged to take a hardline stance against an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.
“If it is true, it will be a calamity, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay”, said the Pope.
The Republican billionaire has vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history,” though any deportation program will face legal challenges, as well as potential refusals by some countries to accept deportees.
The Pope, who received Mr. Trump at the Vatican during his first term in the White House in 2017 for a half-hour meeting, has criticised him for his anti-migrant policies in the past.
In February 2016, when asked about the then-U.S. presidential hopeful’s anti-immigration stance, he said: “Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian”.
And last year the Argentine Jesuit made a rare foray into the U.S. election season to call harsh anti-migrant attitudes “madness” and criticise right-wing US Catholic figures for overly conservative stances.
Mr. Trump, 78, has also vowed to end birthright citizenship, calling it “ridiculous”, though it is guaranteed by the U.S. constitution.
Analysts also expect him to issue executive orders on other aspects of immigration policy, and he is weighing declaring a national emergency, which would allow him to unlock Pentagon resources.
On Jan. 6, the Vatican announced Cardinal Robert McElroy, 70, the current bishop of San Diego and a critic of Trump, would be taking on the role of archbishop of the Diocese of Washington, D.C., replacing Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who had surpassed the retirement age of 75 by two years.
The decision struck many Vatican observers as an odd choice for an institution that usually tries to select conciliatory bishops for key positions.
McElroy, a San Francisco native who has spoken openly in favor of migrants, the inclusion of marginalized groups in the church and society, and the overall need to reform the way the Catholic Church engages with politics, doesn’t come off as the kind of leader who can persuade the Trump administration to consider the Vatican’s positions.
During a speech to more than 700 Catholic leaders of popular movements in 2017, mere months into the first Trump presidency, McElroy urged faithful to oppose aspects of the administration’s policies. “President Trump was the candidate of disruption. He was the disrupter,” he said, “Well, now we must all become disrupters.”
McElroy’s appointment came only a couple weeks after Trump announced he had selected Brian Burch, who helped mobilize the Catholic vote to support Trump’s 2024 campaign, to represent the U.S. at the Holy See.
Initially a Trump skeptic, Burch has become an influential voice in the Catholic circles that contributed to Trump’s success, and he has spoken critically about Francis in regard to the blessing of same-sex couples and the pope’s support for progressive causes.
The last time Trump was president, Francis was outspoken in criticizing the real estate magnate’s bid for the White House. In 2017, the pope seemed to suggest Trump was “not Christian,” in a speech urging world leaders to “build bridges and not walls.”
However, Unlike 2016, when Francis was at the peak of his popularity and surrounded by world leaders who were in open opposition to Trump, the pope is now 88 and an increasingly isolated voice in his appeals to promote migrants and peace in the world.