VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Insisting that the dignity of all people, including immigrants, must be respected, Pope Leo XIV asked U.S. Catholics and \u201cpeople of goodwill\u201d to read and listen to the U.S. bishops\u2019 recent pastoral message on the topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are living good lives \u2014 and many of them (in the United States) for 10, 15, 20 years \u2014 to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least,\u201d is not acceptable, the pope said Nov. 18.<\/p>\n
Meeting reporters outside his villa in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo was asked what he thought of the \u201cspecial pastoral message on immigration\u201d approved overwhelmingly by members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 12.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/11-20-pope-leo-with-migrant-group-300x200.jpg\")
Pope Leo XIV blesses Bishop Mark J. Seitz, left, and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony C. Celino of El Paso, right, along with representatives of the Hope Border Institute and others who assist migrants in the United States during a private meeting at the Vatican Oct. 8, 2025. (CNS photo\/Vatican Media)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,\u201d the bishops said. \u201cWe are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bishops also said, \u201cWe oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,\u201d and they prayed \u201cfor an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo told reporters in Castel Gandolfo that the pastoral message is \u201ca very important statement. I would invite especially all Catholics, but people of goodwill, to listen carefully to what they said.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one has said that the United States should have open borders,\u201d the pope said. \u201cI think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he said, in enforcing immigration policy \u201cwe have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are courts. There\u2019s a system of justice,\u201d but the system has \u201ca lot of problems\u201d that should be addressed.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo also was asked about what he does in Castel Gandolfo.<\/p>\n
Tuesdays traditionally are the one day a week when popes have no official audiences or public events. When his schedule permits, Pope Leo goes to Castel Gandolfo late Monday afternoon and returns to the Vatican Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo said he uses the day for \u201ca bit of sport, a bit of reading, a bit of work,\u201d specifying that at Castel Gandolfo he plays tennis and swims in the pool.<\/p>\n
Having a break during the week \u201chelps a lot,\u201d the pope said. And it is important to take care of the body as well as the soul.<\/p>\n
As he prepares for his first trip outside Italy as pope \u2014 a visit to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2 \u2014 he also was asked when he thought he would get back to Peru where he served as a missionary and as a bishop.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo said he likes to travel, but the events of the Jubilee year kept his 2025 calendar full. The challenge for 2026 will be finding a way to schedule the trips he would like to make, including to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and then a trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, \u201cof course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Insisting that the dignity of all people, including immigrants, must be respected, Pope Leo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-38957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}