{"id":13167,"date":"2026-02-28T18:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T01:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cardinals-and-popes-ambassador-decry-mass-deportations\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:30:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:30:44","slug":"cardinals-and-popes-ambassador-decry-mass-deportations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cardinals-and-popes-ambassador-decry-mass-deportations\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals and pope\u2019s ambassador decry mass deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cardinal
Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to reporters after a mass in solidarity with migrants at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 27 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (The Associated Press)<\/span>Mark Vancleave<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Two American cardinals and the Vatican\u2019s ambassador to the U.S. denounced the mass deportations in Minnesota under the federal government\u2019s immigration crackdown and urged residents to repair strained relations and work toward humane solutions.<\/p>\n

In St. Paul on Friday, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington addressed growing concerns about immigration enforcement while highlighting the need to be peacemakers on the polarizing issue after a Mass for migrants he celebrated with his fellow prelates and the Twin Cities\u2019 archbishop.<\/p>\n

McElroy depicted this winter\u2019s enforcement surge as \u201calmost a siege\u201d that unfolded in \u201cliterally the heartland of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholic teaching supports the nation\u2019s right to control its border and, in these cases, to deport those who\u2019ve been convicted of serious crimes,\u201d he said. \u201cSeeking to deport millions of men and women and children \u2026 families who often lived here for decades, many children who don\u2019t know other countries \u2026 is contrary to Catholic faith and, more fundamentally, contrary to basic human dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

McElroy joined Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis; and more than two dozen other Catholic bishops for the Mass. As part of their show of solidarity with migrants, the morning service was held in the chapel of the University of St. Thomas, where they were attending a conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud, personally, to see our church, you know, be on the side of those who suffer,\u201d Pierre said, adding that Pope Leo XIV agreed with the U.S. bishops\u2019 support of migrants.<\/p>\n

In his homily, Hebda spoke of his anger when migrant communities were too fearful to come to church while \u201cmasked men\u201d – a reference to federal law enforcement – roamed the streets and violence erupted during this winter\u2019s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

But he encouraged the faithful – including seminarians, members of the college community and school principals packing the pews – to cultivate kindness and focus on peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat ministry of reconciliation has to be ours, in the Twin Cities and around the world,\u201d Hebda preached.<\/p>\n

\"Cardinal
Cardinal Robert speaks to reporters after a mass in solidarity with migrants at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 27 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (The Assocoiated Press)<\/span>Mark Vancleave<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
How immigration enforcement unfolded in Minnesota<\/div>\n

Minnesota became a global flashpoint for tensions over arrests and deportations. An immigration enforcement surge saw thousands of federal officers in daily confrontations with activists and protesters, two of whom – Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens – were killed in Minneapolis earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Many faith leaders across denominations joined the protests, including about 100 clergy who were arrested after refusing orders to disperse at Minnesota\u2019s largest airport during one of the surge\u2019s largest protest days last month.<\/p>\n

The local Catholic leadership, however, struck a more conciliatory tone.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of both fatal shootings, Hebda highlighted the need \u201cto lower the temperature of rhetoric\u201d and \u201cto rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters.\u201d He pointedly noted that held true \u201cfor our undocumented neighbors\u201d as much as \u201cfor the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, on Friday, the prelates spoke of praying for everyone who has been affected – from the families of those killed to migrants and those assisting them to \u201cthe ICE men and women, too,\u201d in McElroy\u2019s words referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all need to engage in healing and reconciliation,\u201d he added. \u201cIt will take a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politics, faith and immigration views mix in America<\/div>\n

Asked whether Catholics – the majority of whom voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 – might see advocacy for migrants as drawing the church into politics, the cardinals said religion and politics both should be about the good of society.<\/p>\n

The first allegiance is to God alone, Tobin added, but Scriptures exhort more often to do no harm to the foreigner and welcome the stranger than to love one\u2019s neighbor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Creator figured that there was a better chance we\u2019d love people who we thought looked like us. We had to be reminded frequently about everybody else,\u201d Tobin said.<\/p>\n

Advocacy for migrants was a priority for the late Pope Francis, who had sparred over U.S. border policies with Trump since Trump first ran for the White House.<\/p>\n

Under Leo, the first U.S. pontiff, the Catholic Church has continued to call for the humane treatment of immigrants around the world and for immigration reform in the United States – reforms that have eluded Congress for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer we refuse to grapple with this issue in the political arena, the more divisive and violent it becomes,\u201d Hebda had remarked in January.<\/p>\n

In a January statement, McElroy, Tobin and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago criticized the Trump administration\u2019s foreign policy, saying U.S. military action in Venezuela, threats involving Greenland and cuts in foreign aid risked causing suffering rather than promoting peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to reporters after a mass in solidarity with migrants at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 27 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (The Associated Press)Mark Vancleave ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Two American cardinals and the Vatican\u2019s ambassador to the U.S. denounced the mass deportations in Minnesota under the federal government\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[904],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-immigration"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18842,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13167\/revisions\/18842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13167"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}