Pope Leo is visibly not a fan of President Donald Trump’s Immigration policy. He may have found it tacky and distasteful, so much that he shunned any extent enough to criticize it.
So, a profound and widening chasm has opened within the American Catholic Church, pitting the Vatican and a majority of U.S. bishops against a significant portion of the laity.and even key figures in government, over one of the nation’s most divisive issues: immigration.
At the center of the storm is Pope Leo XIV, whose repeated critiques of U.S. immigration policy have ignited a fierce debate about faith, politics, and the boundaries of clerical authority.
For traditionalist Catholic and Trump supporter Jesse Romero, the Pope has overstepped. “The Pope should tell us how to get to heaven,” Romero argues. “He has no authority over the government; he has to stay in his lane.”
Yet, the Pope and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are unequivocally in their lane, asserting that immigration is a core matter of Catholic moral and social teaching. In a rare “Special Message” last November, the first of its kind in over a decade—the bishops expressed being “disturbed” by a “climate of fear and anxiety” and stated their opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” Pope Leo swiftly endorsed the statement, calling it “very important” and urging all people of goodwill to heed it.
As it were, the Pontiff and bishops anchor their position in the Gospel of Matthew, citing Christ’s words that we will be judged by how we treated “the foreigner.” Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, who voted for the special message, states plainly: “It should weigh heavily on the consciences of Catholics in public life who support indiscriminate deportation. It is inconsistent with the Gospel of Life.”
However, a new study by the Public Religion Research Institute reveals a stark disconnect between the pulpit and the pews: nearly **60% of white Catholics** approve of President Trump’s handling of immigration. This support underpins the political reality that Catholics like Vice President JD Vance, legal strategist Leonard Leo, and cabinet members Marco Rubio and Linda McMahon were instrumental to Trump’s electoral victory and now form part of his governing core.
For critics like Romero, the bishops are promoting a “modernist, liberal, progressive view of Scripture.” He counters that the Catechism requires immigrants to obey a nation’s laws, including those governing their legal status.
On the ground, the conflict is deeply personal. In Bishop Tyson’s predominantly Hispanic diocese, he estimates half of families have a member with precarious immigration status. The Church itself is directly affected, with clergy often on temporary visas. “I have a seminarian… [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] showed up, and he was afraid he was going to be picked up,” Tyson shares. He now requires his seminarians to carry their papers at all times.
This internal struggle places the American Catholic Church in an increasingly tenuous position. It is a global institution led by a Pope decrying policies supported by many of its own faithful, who in turn help lead the government implementing those policies. The hierarchy sees a pastoral and moral imperative to protect vulnerable families within its parishes. A vocal segment of the laity sees a hierarchy out of touch with national sovereignty and security.
