In a ceremonial throne room at the Vatican last week, Pope Leo stood before a group of visiting American Bishops and Catholic leaders as they played video messages from migrants in the United States. As he watched one message after another from people speaking about their fear of President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, his eyes filled with tears, according to one person in the delegation.
“You stand with me and I stand with you, and the church will continue to accompany and stand with migrants,” the Pope reportedly said after the meeting, which ended with him instructing them to be more forceful in defending immigrants in the U.S.
Pope Leo’s comments were the latest in a string of forceful public statements that demonstrate his increasing willingness to challenge Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
“He just was very, you could see, visibly pained when he watched the video,” Dylan Corbett, an executive director of the Hope Border Institute, who was part of the delegation, told TIME.
Read more: ‘Peace Be With You’: Pope Leo XIV Steps Onto the World Stage
During the meeting, the delegation handed the Pope dozens of letters from immigrants, bishops and social workers describing their fears of the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown. Corbett, whose grassroots organization works with faith leaders to help communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, said their conversation deeply affected the Pope.
“He was emotionally moved by what we told him, almost, you know, almost angry at times. Just very clear that what was happening was, you know, the church needed to raise its voice, and it was unacceptable,” said Corbett, who lives in the border town of El Paso and has previously worked in an official capacity for the Vatican in promoting migrant and refugee rights.
A personal issue
The issue has become personal for the Pope in recent weeks as Trump has focused his crackdown on Chicago, Pope Leo’s hometown. The day after the meeting of Bishops on Oct….
