Pope Leo condemns Trump’s immigration policies as ‘extremely disrespectful’

The pontiff urged people in the U.S. “to look for ways of treating people humanely”

Pope Leo XIV has once again condemned Donald Trump's stringent anti-immigration policies, describing the administration's treatment of foreigners living in the United States as “extremely disrespectful”.

Speaking from his residence in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, the pontiff urged people in the U.S. “to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”

The first U.S. pontiff, Leo has escalated his disapproval of the Trump administration's approach to immigrants in recent weeks. This follows his September remarks, where he labelled their treatment “inhuman”, which provoked a significant backlash from some conservative Catholic figures.

In September, he called the treatment of immigrants "inhuman.” (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Leo was asked by a journalist on Tuesday about a November 13 statement from the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, which rebuked the Trump administration's polices and called for “meaningful immigration reform.”

“It's a very important statement,” the pope said. “ I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”

He said individual countries have a right to police their borders, but that many immigrants in the U.S. are “living good lives” and they were being treated “in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least.”