Pope Francis Rebukes President Trump Over Deportations And Challenges Vice President JD Vance’s Theology

Pope Francis has called out President Trump’s stance on illegal immigrants and has critiqued Vice President JD Vance’s theology.

In a letter to U.S. Catholic bishops, Francis wrote that bishops should not agree with the Trump administration’s policy that the illegal status of migrants results in criminality.

Francis wrote that deporting people  “damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

The Pope also criticized JD Vance’s statement that “people should care for their family, communities, and country before caring for others.”

The Pope, in response to Vance, wrote, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,”

🚨 BREAKING:

Pope Francis has written a letter to the bishops of the United States seemingly condemning Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.

In his letter, the Pope laments against the discrimination of migrants and adherence to a national identity.

The Pope is demonic. pic.twitter.com/qK2FUgb2K5

— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) February 11, 2025

Here’s what NPR reported:

Pope Francis criticized the Trump Administration’s stance on migrants, calling the president’s pledge of mass deportations “a major crisis.”

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In a strongly worded letter to the U.S. Catholic bishops, Francis wrote that it’s important for Catholics to disagree with any measure that identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.

Francis also said that deporting people — who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, exploitation, and persecution — “damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

The letter also appears to reply to remarks by Vice President JD Vance in which he said people should care for their family, communities, and country before caring for others.

Francis instead wrote that people should meditate on love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the Pope writes.

Francis is the second high-ranking Catholic leader to criticize Vance, who is Catholic.

BREAKING: Pope Francis pens surprise letter to all bishops in the US re immigration “in these delicate moments.”
He criticizes Trump's moves against illegal immigrants and Vance's citing of Ordo Amoris: “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and… pic.twitter.com/bfiMWxl2O0

— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) February 11, 2025

Just google “ordo amoris.” Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone? https://t.co/otvv5g1wFN

— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 30, 2025

Per AP:

Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”

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Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s defense of the deportation program on theological grounds.

U.S. border czar Tom Homan immediately pushed back, saying Francis should leave border enforcement to his office and noted the Vatican is a city-state surrounded by fortress-like walls.