Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming U.S. President’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Francis made the comments during an appearance at an evening talk show, and then followed up Monday with an official telegram of congratulations to Trump on the day of his inauguration. Francis said he prayed that America would live up to its ideals of being a “land of opportunity and welcome for all.”
“It is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion,” he wrote in the telegram.
History’s first Latin American Pope was asked Sunday night about the Trump administration pledges of deportations during an appearance on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa.
“If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill” for the problem, Francis said. “This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved.”
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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
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