“Personally, I believe that a state has the right to regulate its borders,” says Pope Leo. “I am not saying that everyone must be allowed to enter without order, sometimes creating in destination countries situations more unjust than those they left behind.”
The pope made that remark during a press conference on his flight back to Rome from Africa. He hastened to add: “But that said, I ask myself: what are we doing in richer countries to change the situation in poorer countries? Why can we not try, both through state aid and through the investments of large wealthy companies and multinationals, to change the situation in countries like those we visited on this visit?”
What Trump officials need to do moving forward is be very careful in separating what Leo says from what the liberal American cardinals say.
That’s certainly a fair concern for a pope. A politician and a citizen might have a different take, but for a pope, that’s how he’s generally expected to think.
Pope Leo XIV added: “And another point I would like to make is that, in any case, they are human beings, and we must treat human beings humanely, not treat them worse than animals, as often happens. It is a very big challenge: a country can say it cannot receive more than a certain number of people, but when people arrive, they are human beings and deserve the respect that belongs to every human being because of their dignity.”
Again, a reasonable and expected position from a pope: treat everyone with dignity, humanely. Do not mistreat them. And that can be a challenge amid the process of, indeed, a nation legitimately saying that (in the pope’s words) “it cannot receive more than a certain number of people.”
Our Sam McCarthy shared these words from Leo XIV in his column last Sunday. They’re among the few remarks that the American pontiff has uttered on immigration, despite what many say the pope said. I’m told by conservatives that this pope supports “open borders.” He does not and has rejected that explicitly. I know this because I wrote a 400-plus page book on the new pope and have followed nearly every statement he has made since walking onto the Loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square last May 8. His few comments on immigration are measured, sensible, and something that his critics would be surprised to see. Here’s another.
“I think every country has the right to determine who enters, how, and when.”
So said Pope Leo XIV last November. The American pope’s full statement is worth reading carefully.
“If someone is in the United States illegally, there are ways to address this,” said the pope. “There are courts. There is a judicial system. I believe there are many problems in the system.”
Indeed. Well said. Who would disagree?
The pope further stated: “No one has said that the United States should have open borders.”
There’s his explicit rejection of open borders.
Of course, some people have pushed for open borders, but this pope has not.
The pope agrees with you: there should not be open borders, and every nation has the right to determine who enters and how and when. That would include America. So said the American pope.
At the same time, Pope Leo insisted last November: “when people have lived good lives — many of them for 10, 15, 20 years — treating them in a way that is, to say the least, extremely disrespectful, and with instances of violence, is troubling.”
Amen to that. There should be no disrespect to the dignity of these people, even if they’re illegal, and violence against them is troubling and unacceptable.
In all, this is a very reasonable position by the Bishop of Rome — by our American pontiff. It seems awfully hard to argue with. And yet, we often hear from conservatives that the pope is “very liberal” or “bad” or “weak” (Donald Trump’s word) on immigration and other issues. He’s “woke.” Worse, he and other popes are said to be “hypocrites” as they sit ensconced in a Vatican protected by giant walls. Donald Trump wants to build walls, too, for protection against the type of illegal immigrant who comes to America and commit crimes that hurt our citizens.
Point taken.
But here’s another point that critics of the popes on immigration need to consider. They need to understand that the pope has a totally different “constituency” (if you will) than a president or prime minister. The constituency of the head of universal Roman Catholic Church is the world. A president and a pope will naturally have different positions on immigration because they represent different territories. The president of the United States represents a country with borders, and he swears an oath under the U.S. Constitution to protect the borders. The pope, however, has a borderless world. He is exhorted by the words of the Gospel to spread the faith of Jesus Christ to every corner of the globe. His citizens are citizens of the globe who transcend borders. His city is the City of God, not the City of Man (to borrow from Saint Augustine).
Popes — and this American pope, a self-described “son of Augustine” — realize that. They see things differently.
So, given what Pope Leo has actually said about immigration, why do so many believe he has called for open borders or has a radical, left-wing position?
One answer to that is that the pope’s position is often sloppily conflated with statements by liberal American cardinals and bishops. The bishops have spoken out much more against Trump immigration policy than has Pope Leo, and in a way that the president considers harsh and unfair. It wouldn’t and hasn’t taken Donald Trump much to want to link Leo to the bishops, even if the pope’s words have been sparse and not hostile, and given that Leo often exhorts the flock to listen to their bishops (as a pope would do).
I published a piece last week on how President Trump’s Truth Social outburst against Pope Leo was actually triggered by the 60 Minutes appearance of the three most liberal American cardinals: Blase Cupich, Joseph Tobin, and especially Robert McElroy. These three appointments were landmines laid by Pope Francis, particularly the McElroy appointment in Washington just before Trump’s second inauguration. Right on cue, they detonated during the 60 Minutes interview and Trump launched into the stratosphere. Donald Trump told their interviewer, Norah O’Donnell, that it was the cardinals’ appearance that set him off with his Truth Social post against Pope Leo.
What Trump officials need to do moving forward is be very careful in separating what Leo says from what the liberal American cardinals say. Even then, of course, the American president will not always be happy with what the American pontiff says. But when it comes to immigration, what Pope Leo has said thus far is much more reasonable than what his critics think.
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