Pope Francis has blasted Donald Trump’s plans to deport thousands of undocumented migrants from the US after taking office as a “disgrace”.
The president-elect has pledged to launch the biggest-ever deportation of illegal migrants in the country’s history after his inauguration today.
But the Pope has urged him against the drastic measures, accusing Trump of forcing “poor wretches that don’t have anything [to] foot the bill” for the migration problem in an Italian TV address from the Vatican on Sunday.
“This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved,” he said in an impassioned response to questions about the prospect of the “disgraceful” new immigration policy.
It’s not the first time Trump has clashed with the bishop of Rome over his tough stance on migration.
Pope Francis, who is the first Latin American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, slammed the first Trump administration’s plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border as “not Christian” in 2016.
He also shared a more optimistic message to the incoming president, however, offering him “cordial greetings” and emphasising the importance of “peace and reconciliation among peoples” with “no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion” ahead of Monday’s inauguration.
Trump met Pope Francis, who was elected to the role in 2013, during a trip to Rome during his first presidential term.
Prominent US bishops have also spoken out against the immigration plans, which could be enacted through a raft of first-day orders. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, whose city has been speculated to be “ground zero” for the deportation “raids”, described the reports as “profoundly disturbing and deeply wounding”.
In a statement delivered from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Sunday, Cardinal Cupich said governments have the responsibility to protect borders and communities.
“But we also are committed to defending the rights of all people, and protecting their human dignity,” the statement read.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the incoming archbishop of Washington DC, also said Trump’s plans were “incompatible with the Catholic doctrine” in their contradiction of the Biblical call to “welcome the stranger”.
