Pope Leo XIV and Immigration
I did not expect an American Pope. I thought there was a norm against it, by virtue of the Church wanting to avoid being led by a citizen of the world’s most powerful nation. But either I was wrong, or the norm has faded. Today, Cardinal Robert Prevost became the first American pope, taking the name of Leo XIV.
At least on the issue of immigration I am guardedly optimistic this might be a good choice. Cardinal Prevost’s (now Leo XIV’s) Twitter/X feed includes several posts critiquing Trump and Vance on immigration, such as this one and this one. Conservative Catholic legal commentator Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center has also called attention to these tweets and suggests Cardinal Prevost’s positions on this issue might have been instrumental in his selection as pope. I don’t know about that. But I hope it’s true.
While serving the Church in Peru, Cardinal Prevost advocated for the rights of Venezuelan refugees. We have that cause in common. In a much, much less significant way, I have tried to do the same here in the US, defending the valuable CHNV program (which allows Americans to sponsor Venezuelan and some other migrants fleeing Latin American dictatorships) against attacks by state governments and the Trump Administration, opposing Trump’s illegal efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans. I have also informally advised people and organizations working to sponsor Venezuelans in the CHNV program.
This is just speculation. But perhaps advocating for Venezuelan refugees from socialism has led the new Pope to appreciate how awful that ideology is (a major blind spot for his predecessor). If socialism were a
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