The Pope said Trump’s large-scale deportation plan is “not how you solve problems”.
Pope Francis has blasted Donald Trump’s plans to deport thousands of undocumented migrants from the US after taking office as a “disgrace”.
The president-elect has pledged to launch the biggest-ever deportation of illegal migrants in the country’s history after his inauguration today.
But the Pope has urged him against the drastic measures, accusing Trump of forcing “poor wretches that don’t have anything [to] foot the bill” for the migration problem in an Italian TV address from the Vatican on Sunday.
“This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved,” he said in an impassioned response to questions about the prospect of the “disgraceful” new immigration policy.It’s not the first time Trump has clashed with the bishop of Rome over his tough stance on migration.
Pope Francis, who is the first Latin American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, slammed the first Trump administration’s plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border as “not Christian” in 2016.
He also shared a more optimistic message to the incoming president, however, offering him “cordial greetings” and emphasising the importance of “peace and reconciliation among peoples” with “no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion” ahead of Monday’s inauguration.
Trump met Pope Francis, who was elected to the role in 2013, during a trip to Rome during his first presidential term.
