Pope Leo’s Trump Critique Ends Honeymoon With Conservative U.S. Catholics

Pope Leo initially impressed conservative Catholics after his election in May, embracing traditions shunned by his predecessor, Pope Francis, and steering clear of hot-button social issues that have divided the Church’s 1.4 billion members, Joshua McElwee reported for Reuters.

Vatican officials and papal associates said Leo cares deeply about the treatment of immigrants and is unlikely to be deterred by criticism. (Photo: ©Mazur, cbcew.org.uk / Catholic Church England and Wales Flickr) 

But his honeymoon with conservatives appears to be over after he unexpectedly took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, questioning whether they align with the 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 U.S.’ — I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” Leo, the first U.S. pope, told reporters.

Some critics who had praised the pope for his early restraint expressed shock that Leo criticized Trump.

Former Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland — a fierce Francis critic who was removed from office by the late pope but has since praised Leo — accused the new pontiff of causing “much confusion … regarding the sanctity of human life and the moral clarity of the Church’s teaching.”

Vatican officials and papal associates said Leo cares deeply about the treatment of immigrants and is unlikely to be deterred by criticism.

But they added that the controversy could detract from his mission — expressed during his inaugural papal Mass — to work for unity across a global Church that has become increasingly divided and polarized in recent decades.