(LifeSiteNews) — On Tuesday evening outside Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV expressed strong support for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB’s) recent statement on immigration while repeating his disapproval, at least indirectly, of the Trump administration’s deportation policies.
“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who, and how, and when people enter,” the Chicago native told reporters amid nightfall. “But when people are living good lives — and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years — to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence unfortunately.”
Pope Leo XIV responding to the US bishops’ statement on the detention and deportation of migrants:
“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter. But when people are living good… pic.twitter.com/1wK9suWlNJ
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) November 18, 2025
Pope Leo’s remarks, which echo claims made by many liberal politicians who often exaggerate the government’s efforts to remove illegal immigrants with dangerous backgrounds, come less than a week after the USCCB held its annual Plenary Assembly meeting in Baltimore. During the meeting, liberal El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz announced the bishops’ new “You Are Not Alone” initiative aimed at pastoral care for illegals.
Seitz is the chairman of the bishops’ committee on migration. Steve Bannon and Vice President JD Vance, among others, have previously critiqued the bishops for promoting open borders for monetary gain.
“When they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance wondered during an interview in January.
READ: Liberal bishop announces new USCCB initiative supporting illegal immigrants
The bishops also released a “special pastoral message” on the topic of immigration at their meeting, the first time in 12 years such a message was published. Many faithful Catholics criticized the bishops for the letter, as they did not issue one during the Biden presidency when the FBI was spying on Latin Mass communities and promoting LGBT ideology.
In their “pastoral message,” the bishops said they are “saddened” and “disturbed” by the way in which “immigrants” are treated in the U.S. The message notably failing to include the fact that deportation numbers under Trump are not as “record breaking” as they are made out to be by the media in comparison to years past.
Leo further the media Tuesday that the U.S. should have more respect for how illegal immigrants are treated, though he did not mention specifics.
“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity they have,” he said. “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice. I think there are a lot of problems in the system.”
Trump immigration czar Tom Homan, a Catholic, rebuked the bishops earlier this week.
“A secure border saves lives. We’re going to enforce the law, and by doing that, we save a lot of lives,” Homan said while standing outside the White House on Friday. “I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church.”
READ: Trump’s Catholic border chief fires back at US bishops: ‘Spend time fixing the Church’
Homann added “according to them, the message to the world is: if you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it.”
Other government officials have pushed back against the claim that illegal immigrants are being treated unjustly in the U.S. as well.
“Religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, told Axios. “ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers … they are not able to accommodate these requests at this time.”
On Wednesday, Pope Leo welcomed pro-abortion Democratic Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker to the Vatican for an audience. Leo, a Chicago native, spoke with Pritzker for around 40 minutes. The Chicago Tribune has reported that two the spoke about “their shared concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices in Chicago.”
In 2018, Bishop Athanasius Schneider told an interviewer from Milan’s Il Giornale that “the phenomenon of so-called ‘immigration’ represents an orchestrated and long-prepared plan by international powers to radically change the Christian and national identities of the European peoples.”