Pope Francis, 88, was challenged by President Donald Trump’s “border czar” on Tuesday after the pontiff criticized Trump’s plan to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
“Czar” Tom Homan, 63, told reporters, “I wish he’d stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us.”
He continued, “He wants to attack us for securing our border? He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?”
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The critique was in response to a letter by the Bishop of Rome addressed to U.S. bishops.
It read, “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of goodwill, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”
The letter also described the plan for mass deportations as a “major crisis.”
The pope said, “the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”
The Pontiff emphasized that his views do “not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.”
The pope has criticized Trump in the past, saying about him in February 2016, “Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian.”
