Pope Francis sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in an unusual open letter to America's Catholic bishops on Tuesday, saying criminalising migrants and taking measures built on force "will end badly".
The pope, who last month called Trump's plan to deport millions of migrants a "disgrace", said it was wrong to assume that all undocumented immigrants were criminals.
"I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church ... not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters," said the pontiff.
Francis, pope since 2013, has long been critical of Trump's immigration policies. In 2016, during Trump's first White House campaign, the pope said Trump was "not Christian" in his views on immigration.
In his letter on Tuesday, Francis called the immigration crackdown a "major crisis" for the U.S.
"What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly," he said.
Trump, a Republican who was president in 2017-2021, won a second non-consecutive term promising to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
After taking office last month, he issued a flurry of executive actions to redirect military resources to support the mass deportation effort and empowered U.S. immigration officers to make more arrests, including at schools, churches and hospitals.
In Tuesday's letter, Francis also appeared to respond indirectly to Vice President JD Vance's defence of the deportations.
Vance, a Catholic, defended the crackdown in a January social media post by referring to an early Catholic theological concept known as the "ordo amoris", or "order of love", to suggest that Catholics must give priority to non-immigrants.
The pope said: "The true 'ordo amoris' that must be promoted (is) … by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception."
NEW APPOINTMENTS
On Tuesday, Francis also named a Catholic prelate known for advocating for immigrants as the new archbishop of Detroit.
Bishop Edward Weisenburger suggested in 2018 that border patrol agents who were Catholic and took part in the first Trump administration's family separation policy could be denied Communion, a central part of Catholic worship.
The family separation policy, in place from 2017-2018, was halted after images of youngsters in cages sparked outrage at home and abroad.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has also criticized Trump's immigration crackdown, calling it "deeply troubling" in a statement last month.
