Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GooglePope Leo criticizes U.S. immigration policies, questioning their alignment with Catholic pro-life teachings. He highlights the importance of evaluating overall contributions.
By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo on Tuesday appeared to offer his strongest criticism yet of U.S. President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies, questioning whether they were in line with the Catholic Church's pro-life teachings.
"Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life," the pontiff told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo.
The Catholic Church's position that life is sacred from conception until natural death is one of the 1.4-billion-member denomination's strongest teachings.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, was responding to a question from a U.S. journalist who asked about the country's politics.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has shown a much more reserved style than his predecessor, who frequently criticized the Trump administration.
Leo was asked about a decision by the archdiocese of Chicago to give an award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat who supports abortion rights. The move has attracted vocal criticism from conservative Catholics, including several U.S. bishops.
"It is very important to look at the overall work that the Senator has done," said the pope.
"I understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it's important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church," he said.
"Someone who says I am against abortion but says I am in favour of the death penalty is not really pro-life," said the pope.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Richard Chang)
The main topic is Pope Leo's criticism of U.S. immigration policies and their alignment with Catholic pro-life teachings.
Pope Leo commented on the importance of considering the overall work of Senator Durbin despite criticism.
Pope Leo has shown a more reserved style compared to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who frequently criticized the Trump administration.
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