What did Pope Francis say about mass deportations?

The pope’s letter on the Trump administration’s immigration policy has predictably generated global headlines.

Pope Francis released a 10-point letter to American bishops Tuesday, addressing “the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations.”

Pope Francis presides at Mass with newly appointed cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 8, 2024. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

The letter’s unusually direct critique of the U.S. government’s migration policy predictably generated global headlines.

What did the letter say and what’s the context? The Pillar takes a look.

‘Make a critical judgment’

Quote: “I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

Context: The pope begins his letter with a three-point reflection on the theme of migration in the Bible, touching on the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt, and Joseph and Mary’s flight into exile after Christ’s birth.

Only then does he clearly identify the letter’s central topic: the Trump administration’s deportation program.

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump has released a blitz of executive orders on immigration, including 10 alone on his first day in office. The executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” signed that day, called for “the efficient and expedited removal of aliens from the United States.” It said that many of those present unlawfully in the U.S. pose “significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”

The pope makes two points here. The first is that he believes mass deportations represent a “major crisis” in the U.S. The second is that people with a “rightly formed conscience” should reject a blanket condemnation of illegal immigrants as criminals.

Pope Francis acknowledges a state’s right to protect the populace against “those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.” But he argues that the deportation of people who have fled their homelands due to poverty, insecurity, and other factors “damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in a Jan. 28 social media post: “In the first week of the Trump Administration, we have fulfilled President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport violent criminals illegally in the country. In one week, law enforcement officials have removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens.”

Although both the Trump administration and the pope, in line with many media outlets, have termed the administration’s policy as a campaign of “mass deportation,” some sources question whether the figures amount to a marked deviation from previous administrations. As of last week, Politico reported that “the number of daily Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests … are still about where they were at times under President Barack Obama.”

Also likely to come in for criticism is the pope’s decision not to balance his statement with any reference to the moral responsibility of emigrant states a quo to themselves reform and cease to be organized as places of oppression, driving people to flee.

Bad beginnings and endings

Quote: “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”

Context: The pope insists that a state’s treatment of migrants is “not a minor issue.” The rule of law itself is upheld through the dignified treatment of every individual, “especially the poorest and most marginalized,” he says.

Pope Francis stresses that the common good — a core principle of Catholic social teaching — is enhanced when both state and society “welcomes, protects, promotes, and integrates the most fragile, unprotected, and vulnerable.”

The pope frequently uses those four words — welcoming, protecting, promoting, and integrating — whenever he addresses the plight of migrants and refugees.

The pope acknowledges the state’s duty to enact policies ensuring “orderly and legal migration.” But he does not use the phrase “national sovereignty,” a concept recognized by Catholic social teaching, within limits set by the common good and human dignity. Critics who argue that Pope Francis fails to give sufficient recognition of the right of sovereign states to manage their borders may seize on this omission.

Instead, the pope says that the state’s right to regulate migration should not entail “the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others.”

Then comes his point that it is dangerous to base a policy on force rather than the recognition of the “equal dignity of every human being.” In other words, the pope objects to a “might is right” philosophy, which holds that the powerful define morality — which he appears to believe is the conviction underlying the Trump administration’s approach to migration.

Responding to the letter, Cardinal Blase Cupich told Vatican News: “The Holy Father has clearly identified for the U.S. bishops and Church the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants as the preeminent urgency at this moment.”

The cardinal’s use of the word “preeminent” evokes the U.S. bishops’ long-running debate over whether ending legal protection for abortion should be described as their “preeminent priority.” It might foreshadow a new debate about whether advocacy for migrants should be the bishops’ new “preeminent” topic.

The ‘ordo amoris’ and the Good Samaritan

Quote: “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan.”

Context: U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, generated extensive discussion when he invoked the concept of the “ordo amoris” (“order of charity”) in a debate about how the Trump administration’s policies aligned with Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor.

Vance referred to the concept, developed by St. Thomas Aquinas, after a Fox News interview, in which he said: “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”

Responding to criticism of his remark, Vance wrote on social media “Just google ‘ordo amoris.’”

Among the critics of Vance’s stance was Fr. James Martin, S.J., who argued that the vice-president “misses the point of Jesus’s Parable of the Good Samaritan.”

In a twitter.com post, Martin wrote that “Jesus’s fundamental message is that *everyone* is your neighbor, and that it is not about helping just your family or those closest to you. It’s specifically about helping those who seem different, foreign, other. They are all our ‘neighbors.’”

In his letter, the pope embraces Martin’s reasoning. He writes that “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” The ordo amoris outlined by Aquinas can only be understood in the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan, he insists, without giving any detailed elaboration.

The pope’s reference to “fraternity” likely alludes to his encyclical Fratelli tutti, which contains an extensive reflection on the Good Samaritan.

Proclaiming Christ, promoting rights

Quote: “I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights.”

Context: In this passage, the pope highlights U.S. bishops’ advocacy for migrants, perhaps implicitly defending them against recent criticism.

In an interview with CBS, Vice-President Vance urged the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to “look in the mirror a little bit,” given it receives more than $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants. He suggested the U.S. bishops’ criticism of the Trump administration’s migration policies might be motivated by worries “about their bottom line,” rather than humanitarian concerns.

The USCCB insisted that its resettlement work remained “a work of mercy and ministry of the Church” despite the flow of large sums of federal government money.

In his letter, the pope says that through their work with migrants and refugees, the bishops are “proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights.” Their motivation, in other words, is fidelity to the Gospel and the obligation to promote human dignity.

‘Narratives that discriminate”

Quote: “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”

Context: At the end of the letter, the pope issues a broad appeal directed beyond the U.S. bishops, to all Catholics and everyone with sympathy for Catholic teaching. He calls for resistance to “narratives” that are prejudicial to migrants and refugees.

The breadth of his appeal suggests that, in an era of mass migration, the pope recognizes that many other countries are grappling with similar dilemmas to the U.S.

The pope’s choice of the words “give in to narratives” implies that he sees anti-immigration rhetoric as a seductive force, winning over Catholics as well as those outside of the Church.

Pope Francis seems to acknowledge, indirectly, that there are Catholics on all sides of the immigration debate. In addition to Vance, Trump border czar Tom Homan is a Catholic.

Asked to comment on the pope’s “harsh words” Feb. 11, Homan said: “I’ve got harsh words for the pope: I say this as a lifelong Catholic. He ought to focus on his work and leave enforcement to us. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?”

Summing up his appeal, Pope Francis writes: “With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.”