Social media posts from Robert Prevost, newly named Pope Leo XIV, show recent criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations has been getting held up in courts nationwide.
Within the first 100 days of his second term, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, granting him authority to deport and detain noncitizens. The implementation was originally blocked in court.
Photo by Francesco Sforza – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images
What To Know
Prevost, 69, on Thursday became the first American pope selected by the Catholic Church. He was a missionary, then a Vatican official after spending years in Peru as a minister.
This year, he has five posts on X, formerly Twitter, with two about immigration.
In the first immigration-related X post on February 13, Prevost said: “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration,” copying a link from America the Jesuit Review.
The article says in part: “it ought to be clear that Catholics cannot support a rhetoric that demonizes immigrants as dangerously criminal simply because they have crossed the border in search of a better life for themselves and their families. It ought to be clear that Catholics cannot celebrate aggressive deportation enforcement as a spectacle. It ought to be clear that Catholics cannot accept a theory of love that pats itself on the back for putting some of the poorest among us farthest from our concern and charity.”
The article adds: “The Gospel does not offer a charter for how to legislate about immigration. It does offer a standard for how far we are to go to love our neighbor, and a refusal to accept the limits we might be comfortable with on who our neighbors are.”
The article then ends: “The question we need to answer is whether we judge our politics according to the Gospel or the other way around.”
The second post on April 14 was a repost from X account Rocco Palmo: “As Trump & Bukele use Oval to Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident (https://bit.ly/3ROMjnP), once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’ https://bit.ly/4j700KN”
The post is in reference to the deportation of El Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a case that has gripped the nation and lawmakers in Washington.
Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 and has since been accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
He and his lawyer have denied involvement in the gang, but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded that he was an MS-13 member, based on confidential information provided to the court.
He was shielded from deportation to his native country, an immigration court ruled, because he said that he would be a target of MS-13’s gang rivals. Abrego Garcia was ultimately deported to El Salvador after being arrested last month in what Trump administration lawyers called an “administrative error.”
His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the United States. In 2021, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, accused him of domestic violence and filed paperwork to obtain a restraining order but says they have since reconciled.
In an exclusive statement to Newsweek, Vasquez Sura said, in part: “Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling.”
What People Are Saying
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin via email to Newsweek on Thursday: “Get a grip. The Department of Homeland Security is not going to comment on the Pope. The media should stop trying to stoke division.”
President Donald Trump, on Truth Social on Thursday: “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Vice President JD Vance, on X on Thursday: “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, in an email to Newsweek on Thursday: “We are optimistic that the new pope will follow his predecessor’s powerful example and prioritize the God-given human dignity and safety of migrants around the world. It’s such an important moment to have a pope’s leadership in this area.”
World Relief, a church-based immigration advocacy nonprofit, in an email to Newsweek on Thursday: “The Catholic Church has a long history of living out Christian compassion for immigrants and advocating for just policies. As evangelical Christians, we of course have some theological differences, but our biblically-rooted concern for the wellbeing of immigrants is a point of commonality, and we’re eager to continue to partner with our Catholic brothers and sisters as Pope Leo XIV begins his papacy.”
What Happens Next
Leo XIV’s authority began immediately after being selected as the new pope.
Update 5/8/25 6:43 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from DHS.
