Pope Leo XIV attends a lunch organised on the World Day of the Poor at the Paul VI audience hall in The Vatican, on November 16, 2025. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP) FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday, November 18, renewed his criticism of US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, slamming “extremely disrespectful” treatment of migrants. “We have to look for ways of treating people humanely,” the first US pope said in English to journalists outside his secondary residence near Rome.
While he said “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” there were people who were “living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years” who were being treated in a way “that is extremely disrespectful.”
The Chicago-born pontiff called on “all people in the United States to listen” to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which in a rare statement last week urged an end to the “climate of fear.”
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Elected in May, the pope has become an increasingly vocal critic of the Trump administration’s policies. Leo also addressed the situation in Nigeria, which is in talks with the United States following Trump’s threats of military intervention over the killing of Christians.
Nigeria is divided between a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim-majority north and is the scene of numerous conflicts, including jihadist insurgencies, which kill both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
The pope said in certain areas of the west African nation “there is certainly danger for Christians, but for all people. Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered.” “There’s a question of terrorism. There’s a question that has to do a lot with economics, if you will, and the control of the lands that they have,” he said.
The 70-year-old, who was elected in May, was speaking to journalists outside his papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, where he frequently spends his Tuesdays. He spends his time doing “a bit of sport, a bit of reading, a bit of work.” Leo said he does “a bit of tennis, a bit of swimming,” adding that people “should do some activity” in order “to look after themselves. Body, soul, altogether.”
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