A prominent Catholic Church leader and ally of Pope Leo XIV has strongly criticized the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, describing the rounding up and deportation of immigrants as \u201cinhumane\u201d and \u201cmorally repugnant.\u201d <\/p>\n
McElroy was appointed to lead the archdiocese in the US capital by Pope Francis in January, the month of Donald Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration. He was among the more than 100 cardinals who took part in the conclave that elected the first American pope in May. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is simply not only incompatible with Catholic teaching, it\u2019s inhumane and is morally repugnant,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe scenes that occurred in Los Angeles where you saw mass agents of the government descending on car washers and Costco parking lots to round up whoever they can round up is not a sign of going after those who have criminal convictions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump has said his tough immigration policies are necessary to keep criminals off US streets and to ease the burden on US institutions. He has embraced the sinister image of a migrant detention facility surrounded by swampland and reptiles. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s known as \u2018Alligator Alcatraz,\u2019 which is very appropriate, because I look outside and it\u2019s not a place I want to go,\u201d Trump said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
McElroy argued that the government had a right to deport people convicted of \u201cserious crimes,\u201d adding that the problems with immigration were rooted in an American political system that had failed to address immigration law and reform over the last 15 years. <\/p>\n
But McElroy said people were now \u201cafraid even to go to church\u201d after the Trump administration removed the policy that prohibited immigration agents from making arrests in sensitive areas, like churches. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is behind this?\u201d he asked, referencing the stricter immigration policies and enforcement tactics. \u201cI fear that one of the main things behind it, in the minds of many who are pushing it, is the sense that the people who are coming to our country now are of a different kind. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s been a great theme in American culture and history all through our country\u2019s immigration, when the Irish came, when the Italians came, when the Poles came, the refrain has been the same, \u2018these are inferior people,\u2019 and that\u2019s what\u2019s going on now\u2026 it\u2019s an outrage.\u201d <\/p>\n
The cardinal, a former Bishop of San Diego, is one of several Catholic bishops who have spoken out against Trump\u2019s migration policies. <\/p>\n
But Vice President JD Vance, a devout Catholic who converted in 2019, earlier this year suggested the bishops\u2019 criticisms of the Trump administration\u2019s policies were motivated by financial interests because the church receives federal funding to resettle immigrants. McElroy hit back in the interview, saying the government funding was far from sufficient to cover the programs and the church had to pick up the shortfall. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose who say that haven\u2019t done the math on what the church has been contributing over and above what the government has contributed to these programs,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Since his election, Pope Leo has urged respect for migrants, describing himself as\u202f\u201cthe\u202fdescendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate.\u201d McElroy said that while Leo XIV spoke about immigration in a \u201cuniversal\u201d context, \u201cwhen you look at what he\u2019s saying, it has clear implications for us.\u201d <\/p>\n
During the interview, Cardinal McElroy also criticized Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d \u2013 a sweeping piece of legislation that would extend tax cuts and increase funding for national security, partly paid for by the biggest cut to the federal social safety net in decades. He\u2019s recently signed a letter with other bishops and faith leaders opposing the bill. <\/p>\n
He said it appeared that millions would \u201cultimately lose their health care because of this bill so that billionaires can receive greater tax cuts,\u201d adding: \u201cThere\u2019s something radically wrong with a society that takes from the poorest to give to the wealthiest. It\u2019s just wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected the criticism \u2013 particularly that leveled at the Trump agenda bill. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people elected President Trump, not a DC Archbishop, to serve as their President,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cPresident Trump is fulfilling the mandate the American people gave him in November to turn his campaign promises \u2013 like no tax on tips, social security, and overtime \u2013 into law. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed and will supercharge our economy to benefit all Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n
When it came to church reforms and priorities for Pope Leo, McElroy talked about the importance of addressing the role of women. <\/p>\n
He said\u202fthis topic had been an \u201cimmensely powerful current\u201d during recent Vatican assemblies, the synod, which looked at questions of church renewal and looked at how to include more women in decision making roles. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe major thrust has to be look at where women \u2018aren\u2019t\u2019 and then ask why?\u201d <\/p>\n
McElroy supports ordaining women as deacons, who carry out functions like a priest but without saying Mass or hearing confessions, which he says is consistent with the church\u2019s theology. \u201cIt\u2019s a controversial question within the church,\u201d he admits, \u201cbut I think it would be important to move in that direction.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cardinal McElroy\u2019s candidacy for Washington DC was bolstered by his doctorate in political science from Stanford University, which he was awarded for a thesis on moral norms in foreign policy. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy great fear is that the lessons that nations will take away from this intervention against Iran is that if they have nuclear weapons then they won\u2019t be subject to this sort of attack,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s an open question. Will this encourage more proliferation because the incentives are stronger now or clearer now, and that\u2019s very ominous.\u201d <\/p>\n
Finally, the cardinal said he believes that Chicago-born Pope Leo would make a visit home \u2013 although he did not know when. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think when he does come to the United States it will be a great moment for our country.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A prominent Catholic Church leader and ally of Pope Leo XIV has strongly criticized the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}