Pope Francis says Trump’s immigration raids would be a ‘disgrace’

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Jan 19 criticised US President-elect Donald Trump’s reported plan to sharply intensify immigration enforcement actions across the US in the days after his inauguration.

In an Italian television interview, the pontiff said it would be a “disgrace” if Trump went forward with the plan, in unusually forceful language for the leader of the global Catholic Church.

“It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill,” said the Pope. “It doesn’t work. You don’t resolve problems this way.”

The Pope’s remarks were made during a video link from his Vatican residence with the “Che Tempo Che Fa” programme on Italy’s Channel 9.

Pope Francis, leader of the 1.4 billion member church, is usually careful about weighing in on political issues.

He has made welcoming migrants a key theme of his nearly 12-year papacy, and he has previously criticised Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric.

During the 2016 election, he said Trump was “not Christian”, in his view.

Incoming Trump administration officials said on Jan 18 that the president-elect was

reconsidering plans for immigration raids

in Chicago next week, following reports about the plans.

Earlier on Jan 19, Chicago’s Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich, also criticised the planned raids.

"This would be an affront to the dignity of all people and communities," the cardinal said in a statement. REUTERS