Pope Leo rebukes Trump with Christ

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Pope Leo on Tuesday called for a “deep reflection” on the way immigrants are treated in the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration and said the spiritual needs of detainees must be respected.

Speaking to reporters at Castel Gandolfo, his residence outside Rome, the pope was asked about immigrants detained at a federal facility in Broadview, near Chicago, who have been denied the opportunity to receive Holy Communion, an important religious obligation.

Leo, originally from Chicago, cited the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25.

“Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, they are going to ask us, you know, how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be done in terms of what is happening,” the pontiff said.

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“Many people who have lived for years and years and years without ever causing trouble have been deeply affected by what is happening now,” he added. Leo, America’s first pope, has previously denounced the federal government’s treatment of immigrants caught in a hardline crackdown that has shaken cities across the country.

Referring to the Broadview inmates, he said Tuesday that it is necessary to consider the spiritual rights of detainees.

“I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral agents to attend to the needs of these people,” he said. “Many times they have been separated from their families for a long time, no one knows what is happening, but their own spiritual needs must be taken care of.”

A delegation of clergy, including a Catholic bishop, attempted to bring inmates Holy Communion on Nov. 1, the Catholic holiday of All Saints, but were denied access to the facility.

The detainees are part of Trump’s hardline approach in Chicago, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says more than 3,000 people have been detained.

Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has displayed a much more reserved style than his predecessor, but has begun to be more openly critical of the Trump administration, provoking a heated reaction from some prominent conservative Catholics.

In his first major document, released Oct. 9, he called on the world to help migrants and invoked one of Francis’s strongest criticisms of Trump.

In response to reporters’ questions on Tuesday, Leo also took issue with the US government sending warships to the seas around Venezuela.

He said the military’s role should be to “defend peace,” while Trump’s move was to “increase tension.”

“We will not win with violence, the (correct) thing is to seek dialogue and the correct way to find solutions to the problems that may exist in a country.” (Reporting by Yeshim Dikman, writing by Gavin Jones, editing by Alistair Bell)