Pope Leo XIV urged the public to see migrants and refugees as “messengers of hope” on Friday, as the Trump administration focuses on mass deportation efforts in the pontiff’s former home country.
In a letter, Leo wrote that the “widespread tendency to look after the interests of limited communities” poses a serious threat to the “pursuit of the common good and global solidarity for the benefit of our entire human family.”
He said that migrants are the embodiment of an aspiration to seek happiness, even outside of one’s homeland and through adversity.
“In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope,” he said. “Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”
The remarks from Leo, who ascended to the papacy earlier this year to become the first American pope, come amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
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Leo showed a special interest in the well-being of immigrants during his work before the Vatican and has been described as the “first modern immigrant pope.” In a May meeting, he emphasized this side of his past to diplomats, telling them, “My own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate.”
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