Pope calls for 'deep reflection' in US about migrants' treatment under Trump

By Yesim Dikmen

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (Reuters) -Pope Leo called on Tuesday for "deep reflection" about the way migrants are being treated in the United States under President Donald Trump's administration and said the spiritual needs of those in detention needed to be respected.

Speaking to reporters in Castel Gandolfo, his residence outside Rome, the pope was asked about immigrants detained at a federal facility in Broadview, near Chicago, who have been refused the opportunity to receive holy Communion, an important religious obligation.

Leo, originally from Chicago, cited Matthew's gospel, chapter 25.

"Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, we're going to be asked, you know, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there's a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what's happening," the pontiff said.

"Many people who've lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what's going on right now," he added.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, has previously decried the federal government's treatment of immigrants caught up in a hard-line crackdown that has roiled cities across the country.

In reference to the Broadview inmates, he said on Tuesday that the spiritual rights of detainees need to be considered.

"I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people," he said.

"Many times they've been separated from their families for a good amount of time; no one knows what's happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to."

A delegation of clergy, including a Catholic bishop, tried to bring the inmates holy Communion on November 1, the Catholic feast of All Saints, but were denied access to the facility.

The detainees are part of Trump's hardline approach in Chicago, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says more than 3,000 people have been held.

Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has shown a much more reserved style than his predecessor, but has begun criticizing the Trump administration more openly, drawing a heated backlash from some prominent conservative Catholics.

In his first major document, issued on October 9, he made a plea for the world to help immigrants and invoked one of Francis' strongest criticisms of Trump.

In answer to reporters' questions on Tuesday, Leo also took issue with the U.S. government's dispatch of warships to the seas around Venezuela.

He said the role of armed forces should be "to defend peace," whereas Trump's move was "increasing tension."

"We won't win with violence, the (right) thing is to seek dialogue and a correct way to find solutions to the problems that can exist in a country."

(Reporting by Yeshim Dikman, writing by Gavin Jones, editing by Alistair Bell)