Pope Leo on Tuesday renewed his criticism of US President Donald Trump’s hardline anti-immigration policies, saying foreigners living in the United States are being treated in an ‘extremely disrespectful’ manner.
The pope asked, in conversation with journalists at Castel Gandolfo, his residence on the outskirts of Rome, that people in the US ‘look for ways to treat people with humanity, treating them with the dignity that they have’.
In recent weeks, Leo, the first US pontiff, has expressed his disapproval of the Trump administration’s persecution of immigrants in increasingly strong terms.
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In September, he called their treatment ‘inhumane’, provoking a heated reaction from some prominent conservative Catholics.
Asked by a journalist on Tuesday about a Nov. 13 statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that rebuked the Trump administration’s policies and called for “significant immigration reform,” Leão said “it’s a very important statement.”
“I would just invite every person in the United States to listen to it,” he added.
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Every country has the right to police its borders, the pope said, but many immigrants in the US are “living good lives” and are being treated “in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least.”
