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Pope Francis on Tuesday harshly criticized President Trump\u2019s policy of mass deportations and urged Catholics to reject anti-immigrant narratives in an unusually direct attack on the American administration. <\/p>\n
In an open letter to American bishops, Francis said that deporting people who often come from difficult situations violates the \u201cdignity of many men and women, and of entire families.\u201d <\/p>\n
The pope wrote that he had \u201cfollowed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,\u201d adding that any policy built on force \u201cbegins badly and will end badly.\u201d <\/p>\n
Francis has long been an advocate for migrants, and has made denouncing their plight a pillar of his papacy. He has called the issue a \u201cshipwreck of civilization\u201d and spoken out repeatedly against what he considers unwelcoming and unchristian migration policies around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Pope Francis had criticized Mr. Trump\u2019s anti-immigration plans when he was a presidential candidate, but the letter was one of the first public and explicit criticisms he has directed at the United States\u2019 president since the election. Experts said it amounted to a steep escalation in the temper of the relationship between the Vatican and the American administration. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt turns up the heat of the conflict,\u201d said Massimo Faggioli,<\/a> a professor of theology at Villanova University. <\/p>\n Experts said that by writing an open letter, the pope was also indirectly addressing members of the new American administration, many of whom are Catholic, and specifically, Vice President JD Vance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Francis appeared to give a riposte to Mr. Vance, who recently talked about the \u201cordo amoris\u201d \u2014 a medieval Catholic theological concept that established a hierarchy of duties that prioritized immediate obligations to one\u2019s family or community over distant needs. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The pope wrote that \u201cChristian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.\u201d \u201cThe true ordo amoris that must be promoted,\u201d he wrote, is \u201clove that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n The pope\u2019s letter, experts said, was also addressed to some bishops and Catholics who have adopted a benevolent stance toward President Trump. <\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to avoid that the Church is divided into a Church of the Pope and a Church of Trump,\u201d said Alberto Melloni, a church historian and the director of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna. <\/p>\n Pope Francis has spoken out before against Mr. Trump\u2019s anti-immigration policies. <\/p>\n In 2016, he suggested that Mr. Trump<\/a>, then a presidential candidate, \u201cis not Christian\u201d because of his campaign promises to deport more immigrants and build a wall along the Mexico border.<\/p>\n Last year, Pope Francis said that<\/a> both presidential candidates were \u201cagainst life\u201d \u2014 Kamala Harris for her support for abortion rights, and President Trump for closing the door to immigrants. He urged voters to choose the \u201clesser of two evils.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But during President Trump\u2019s first term, Francis directed general criticism at the building of walls, but generally refrained from direct attacks on the administration.<\/p>\n This time, Francis has not been shy to criticize President Trump\u2019s policies more directly. On an Italian TV show on the eve of the inauguration, he said that Mr. Trump\u2019s deportation plans, \u201cif true, will be a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n During President Trump\u2019s first term, \u201cthe Vatican thought Trump was a historical mistake that would be corrected,\u201d Mr. Faggioli said. \u201cNow they know it\u2019s a new era.\u201d <\/p>\n There was no immediate comment from the White House.<\/p>\n In the letter, which was unannounced, Francis urged Catholics to consider human values, not laws or regulations, as the primary compass driving their actions. <\/p>\n \u201cConsider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNot vice versa.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He reminded Catholics that Jesus and his family were migrants to Egypt, and exhorted \u201call the faithful of the Catholic Church,\u201d not to \u201cgive in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n Other Christian leaders have also criticized President Trump. <\/p>\n During the inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral last month, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, asked President Trump to have mercy on <\/span>undocumented immigrants, L.G.B.T.Q. children, and others<\/a>. <\/p>\n The following day, Mr. Trump demanded an apology from the \u201cso-called Bishop\u201d and \u201cRadical Left hard line Trump hater\u201d on his social media platform Truth Social. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n