On Sunday, January 19, 2025, in an interview on the program "Che Tempo Che Fa" on the Italian channel Canal 9, Pope Francis from his residence in the Vatican criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to significantly intensify immigration control measures across the United States in the days following his inauguration.

In an unusually strong tone for the head of the world Catholic Church, the pontiff said it would be a "disgrace" if Trump implemented the plan. "It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill [...] It doesn’t work. You don’t solve problems that way."

Pope Francis is usually cautious when it comes to weighing in on political issues. But let’s remember that he has made welcoming migrants a key theme of his nearly 12-year pontificate, and he has already criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said that Trump was "not a Christian" in his eyes.

Earlier Sunday, the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, also criticized the raids announced against migrants in a statement : "It would be an affront to the dignity of all people and all communities."

S/ HaitiLibre