Pope Leo Blasts Trump’s Signature Policy: ‘This Is Not Pro-Life’

In one of the most direct interventions yet by a global faith leader, Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of betraying his own “pro-life” rhetoric with what he called the “inhuman” treatment of migrants under the administration’s sweeping deportation campaign.

The Chicago-born pontiff — the first American to ever lead the Catholic Church — has largely avoided direct criticism of U.S. politics since taking the papacy last year. But with Trump escalating mass deportations and pushing for the return of the death penalty in Washington, D.C., Leo delivered his sharpest rebuke yet.

“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion,’ but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” the 70-year-old pope told reporters outside his villa near Rome. “Someone who says, ‘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 pope’s comments come just months after the Trump administration abruptly transferred roughly 250 Venezuelan migrants from U.S. detention centers to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT “megaprison.” Rights groups say the migrants — most of whom had no criminal records — were beaten and tortured.

Trump officials insist the deportations are part of a campaign promise. “President Trump was elected based on the many promises he made to the American people, including his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson told reporters. “He is keeping his promise.”

But critics argue the crackdown is indiscriminate. Thousands of immigrants with no criminal history have been arrested in recent months, stripped of legal status, and placed in detention centers.

The pope’s remarks also touched on a growing rift inside the U.S. Catholic Church. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich recently announced plans to honor Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, 80, with a lifetime achievement award for his decades of work on immigration reform.

Conservative bishops blasted the move, citing Durbin’s pro-choice voting record. Asked about the controversy, Leo urged a broader perspective. “I think it’s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done throughout the course of their career,” he said.

Durbin later declined the award, saying he didn’t want to become a flashpoint.

Trump has surrounded himself with prominent Catholics in his administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J.D. Vance, and immigration hardliner Tom Homan all played key roles in shaping Trump’s deportation plan. Even press secretary Karoline Leavitt, another Catholic, has defended the policy as “tough but necessary.”

But Pope Leo, whose own brother has expressed MAGA sympathies back home in Chicago, has signaled he will not shy away from confronting his native country’s leader when faith and politics collide.

Earlier this year, he voiced support for Gaza and Ukraine, urging an end to what he called “the dangerous language of aggression favored by some governments.” Until now, however, he had avoided naming Trump directly.

That restraint ended Tuesday.

“The Church teaches us to protect life in all its forms,” Leo said. “That means not only the unborn, but the poor, the imprisoned, the immigrant, and the condemned. To ignore that is to ignore the Gospel itself.”