President Trump's immigration crackdown and aggressive foreign policy has put him on a collision course with one of the oldest institutions in the world: The Catholic Church.
Why it matters: Faith leaders and scholars tell Axios that Trump's agenda conflicts with the Church's commitment to safeguarding human dignity. With an American Pope at its helm for the first time, the Vatican is positioned to be a unique foil for the president.
- "Leo is the pope for this moment," said Vincent Miller, a theology professor at the University of Dayton, adding that he's been "utterly unambiguous" in his criticism of Trump's policies.
State of play: In the latest example, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the killings by federal agents in Minnesota and of a recent ICE detainee as "examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life."
- The three highest-ranking heads of U.S. archdioceses also recently issued a plea for "moral foreign policy" — a not-so-subtle dig at the recent string of U.S. military operations and threats around the world. (A White House spokesperson told Axios in a statement that Trump's foreign policy is "unequivocally moral.")
- Separately, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, the Catholic archbishop for the military's archdiocese, told BBC News that it would be "morally acceptable" for troops to disobey orders that violate their conscience.
What they're saying: Miller says the "specificity" with which the Vatican and bishops are critiquing Trump is a departure from a past tendency to speak in "generalities" on defending the vulnerable.
- "Democratic administrations did not get the benefit of the doubt on matters of abortion," he says. And now Republicans have "lost the benefit of the doubt on policies regarding immigration, regarding military force, regarding international relations."
- Today's threats warrant specificity, says the Rev. David Hollenbach, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
- "The specificity of the response of the popes and of the American bishops is due to the fact that the policies ... are, from a Catholic view, so objectionable."
Catch up quick: Chicago-born Pope Leo has not pulled punches in the first year of his papacy.
- He's warned against the "extremely disrespectful" treatment of migrants, the fracturing of U.S.-Europe relations and a "zeal for war."
- The Pope also endorsed the USCCB "special message" — the first the organization issued in over a decade — that denounced the "indiscriminate mass deportation of people."
The bottom line: The Rev. Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest and a senior analyst at the Religion News Service, tells Axios that Trump's immigration crackdown hits home for clergy, and not only because it's an issue of "human dignity."
- 43% of Catholics in the U.S. were born outside the country or had at least one parent who was born outside the U.S, according to 2023-24 Pew Research Center data.
- "These are the people in the pews," Reese says.
Go deeper: Why the pope's influence goes far beyond Catholics
