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Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday strongly criticized President Donald Trump’s cruel immigration policies and their supporters by suggesting that they don’t seem very “pro-life.”
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“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Leo said. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
The pontiff’s comments came in response to reporters’ questions about the Chicago Archdiocese’s plan to give a lifetime achievement award to Sen. Dick Durbin. The Illinois Democrat, who represents the state in which the pope hails, has been a staunch supporter of abortion and immigration rights. The veteran senator, 80, announced in April that he will not be seeking re-election after four decades in public office.
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Press secretary Karoline Leavitt — a devout Catholic who is regularly photographed wearing a cross and prays with her staff before her press briefings — pushed back at Leo’s remarks during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday.
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“I would reject there was inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration,” Leavitt swiftly shot back before taking a page out of MAGA’s playbook by deflecting.
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“There was significant inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the previous administration,” Leavitt claimed while attacking the right’s favorite scapegoat, former President Joe Biden.
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Leavitt went on to claim that immigrants were “trafficked, and raped, and beaten, and in many cases killed” under Biden’s administration.
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Then, in the next breath, Leavitt said, “You also have to look at the inhumane treatment at the hands of some of these illegal immigrants.”
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This is not the first time the American-born leader of the Roman Catholic Church has criticized Trump’s extremely Christian-happy administration.
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In February, Pope Leo ― then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost ― publicly slammed Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism as an adult.
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The then-cardinal took issue with Vance’s claim of a rigid “biblical” hierarchy that dictates how Christians should prioritize who to love.
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“JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” he wrote while sharing an opinion piece in the National Catholic Reporter that also criticized Vance’s remarks.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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