Trump took a similar hard line on immigration during his previous term in office ― and the pope was critical then as well. When asked about Trump’s promise to build a border w

It’s also a topic which resonates personally with Francis. In his new autobiography, the Pope recalled how his paternal grandparents and father had planned to sail in 1927 on the Principessa Mafalda from Italy to Argentina, which sank with the loss of many lives, but ended up making a later crossing.

ROME — Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming U.S. president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Pope Francis offered President Trump his congratulations on returning to the White House, but called his plan to deport millions of immigrants from the U.S. a "disgrace." Why it matters: American Catholics strongly supported Trump in the 2024 election.

Pope Francis on Sunday criticized President-elect Donald Trump's reported plan to sharply intensify immigration enforcement actions across the U.S. in the days after his inauguration.

This is not the first time the pope has rebuked the president-elect’s position on illegal immigrants. In September 2024, Francis criticized then-candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump when asked a question about the U.S. presidential election. The pope blasted Harris’s position on abortion and Trump’s immigration stance.

This comes after Francis appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the next Archbishop of Washington, D.C. McElroy is a staunch opponent of mass deportations, calling them “inconsistent with Catholic doctrine,” CNN reports.

The pope’s comments provided the latest indication of a potential rekindling of frictions between the Vatican and the next Trump White House.

Pope Francis called President-elect Donald Trump's plans for the deportation of illegal immigrants a "disgrace."

Francis previously said that Trump cannot be a Christian if he plans to build a wall to keep migrants from Mexico out.