Pope Leo has reiterated his disapproval of Donald Trump\u2019s immigration policies, saying foreigners in the US are being treated in an \u201cextremely disrespectful way\u201d.<\/p>\n
Leo, the first US pontiff in the history of the Catholic church, made the remarks in response to questions about a statement adopted last week during a special assembly of US bishops that criticised the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportations and lamented the fear and anxiety caused by immigration raids.<\/p>\n
Leo said the statement was \u201cvery important\u201d and urged Catholics to take heed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,\u201d he told reporters as he left the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, a hilltop town south of Rome, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts; there\u2019s a system of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo acknowledged that \u201cevery country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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 \u2013 and there\u2019s been some violence, unfortunately \u2013 I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Leo, who was elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, has adopted an increasingly strong tone in his criticism of Trump\u2019s immigration policies in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
In September, he called the US\u2019s treatment of immigrants as \u201cinhuman\u201d and in October questioned whether Trump\u2019s policies were in line with the Catholic church\u2019s teachings.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s pro-life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On that occasion, he was also speaking from Castel Gandolfo, to which he usually retreats on Monday afternoons and Tuesdays. The Chicago-born pontiff revived papal holidays in Castel Gandolfo this summer after the tradition was interrupted by Pope Francis, who preferred to spend his time off at a Vatican guesthouse.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Leo also issued a strongly worded video on the climate crisis to bishops participating in the Cop30 summit in Brazil. Criticising the failure of international leaders to summon the political will to tackle the problem, he said: \u201cCreation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat. One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He referred to the landmark Paris agreement adopted by the international community in 2015 to address the climate crisis as being the \u201cstrongest tool for protecting people and the planet\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not the agreement that is failing; we are failing in our response,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is failing is the political will of some. True leadership means service, and support at a scale that will make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo has reiterated his disapproval of Donald Trump\u2019s immigration policies, saying foreigners in the US are being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-580453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115576579238311290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}