MAGA declares war on the Catholic Church

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s brutal treatment of racial minorities, mostly of Hispanic heritage, caused Pope Leo XIV to call upon Catholic leadership to issue a forceful statement condemning such actions. 

Obeying the pope, the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops issued their first special message in 12 years at this month’s plenary assembly. 

By a nearly unanimous vote, they wrote that they were “saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants,” and “concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”

The letter also addressed “threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools.”

“We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”  

Following the meeting, the bishops issued a video denouncing the “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence” against those confronted by ICE. More than 1.4 million have watched. 

Before their special message, many bishops have stood alongside their Hispanic congregants. In a previous column, I called attention to San Diego Bishop Michael Pham, whose presence at court proceedings caused ICE officials who were waiting to detain the litigants to scatter.  

Auxiliary Washington, D.C. bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, a former undocumented migrant from El Salvador, denounces the cruelty shown by ICE agents.

Clergy members from various denominations have come to detention centers only to be turned away or arrested, wrestled to the ground or sprayed with pepper balls.  

The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership is suing the Trump administration for denying Catholic priests and ministers admission to its ICE facilities. The coalition’s executive director said, “For Catholics, pastoral care isn’t optional. We believe that it’s a lifeline.” 

The response from Trump loyalists is to declare war on the Catholic Church. 

“Boarder czar” Tom Homan condemned the bishops’ letter and the church as “wrong.”

“I’m saying it as not only border czar, I’ll say it as a Catholic. I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church, in my opinion.” 

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) accused the Catholic Church of using government grants to profit from services rendered to refugees. Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft charged that the bishops squandered more than $2.3 billion dollars received from the government, and praised Trump for terminating them. 

Following the bishops’ statement Trump loyalist Lara Loomer posted on X, “Are all of the Jew haters going to be calling out the Catholic bishops and the Marxist American Pope for condemning deportations?” 

Matt Walsh, another Trump defender, attacked the bishops, saying they didn’t make a video criticizing the Biden administration “for supporting, funding, and facilitating the mass slaughter of children in the womb,” or “its support for the castration and sexual mutilation of children.” 

These responses reflect the usual Trump tactics of name-calling and deflection. Almost immediately after his election, Loomer called Leo a “woke Marxist Pope.” Ben Harnwell, a journalist who promotes what he calls a “gladiator school” for the “Judeo-Christian West,” described Leo as having “[Pope] Francis’s DNA in him.” 

Charging that the Catholic Church profits from immigrants is a bald-faced lie. While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops received approximately $122 million in government grants for refugee-related services, audited financial statements show the bishops spent more money than they received.   

Those attacking the bishops and making reference to the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church over the past decades does not diminish the bishops’ call for humane treatment of immigrants and adherence to the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ.  

Trump casts himself as pro-Catholic and calls himself “the most pro-life president ever.” But that does not mean that the maltreatment of those living outside the womb is no less a sin. 

As Leo has stated, “Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.” 

Catholics are swing voters and often determine election outcomes. Joe Biden won their votes in 2020; Donald Trump had a 12-point advantage in 2024. Today, a majority of Catholics disapprove of Trump. 

By contrast, a recent survey finds that more than 8 in 10 Catholics view Leo favorably. New York Times columnist David French calls Leo “the most important American in the world,” adding that he “will present a moral witness for years to come, and it’s a moral witness that is fundamentally incompatible with the cruelty and corruption of Trumpism.”  

The Catholic Church is more than 2,000 years old. Declaring war on it is hardly civilized or politically smart. Trump has three years left in office. The Catholic Church will survive condemnation by those in power; it’s hardly the first time this has occurred in its long and storied history. 

John Kenneth White (johnkennethwhite.com) is a professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America. His latest book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.”