Have the American Pope and American administration fallen out?

Jesse Romero, a conservative Catholic podcaster, has some words for Pope Leo XIV.

“Dad needs to tell us how to get to heaven,” Romero says. “He has no power over the government; he must stay on his path.”

As a supporter of Donald Trump, he is unhappy with criticism from the American-born pope and American bishops of his mass deportation policy.

With one in five Americans identifying as Catholic, the Church plays an important role in American life and politics.

Catholics such as Vice President J.D. Vance and influential civil rights activist Leonard Leo played important roles in Donald Trump's electoral success. They are also at the center of the Cabinet, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Education Secretary Linda McMahon holding key positions.

But the issue of immigration has become a point of contention between church leadership and government, as well as among parishioners themselves.

When cardinals gathered for the papal conclave in May, Romero hoped for a “Trump-like pope” with a worldview similar to the president.

Instead, Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly voiced his concerns about the treatment of migrants in the US, calling for “deep reflection” on the issue in November. The Pontiff referred to the Gospel of Matthew, adding that “Jesus says very clearly that at the end of the world we will be asked: 'How did you receive a foreigner?'

A week later, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a rare “Special Message” expressing “concerns about the developing situation affecting immigrants in the United States.”

The bishops said they were “alarmed” by what they called “an atmosphere of fear and anxiety.” They added that they “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and “pray for an end to the dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.”

This was a significant intervention: the first time in over a decade that the USCCB had used such a communiqué. He was supported by the Pope, who called the statement “very important” and called on all Catholics and “people of good will to listen carefully” to it.

“I think the relationship is quite tense,” says David Gibson, director of Fordham University's Center on Religion and Culture.

Gibson said conservatives had hoped Pope Leo would change his predecessor Pope Francis' approach to issues of social justice and migration.

“Many of them are unhappy. They want to tell the church to shut up” and limit itself to issues like abortion, Mr. Gibson says.

White House border czar Tom Homan – himself a Catholic – said the church is “wrong” and that its leaders “need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church.” And in October, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt rejected the Chicago-born dad's suggestion that the U.S.'s treatment of immigrants was “inhumane” and inconsistent with “pro-life” beliefs.

Gibson argues that the government's calculation “is that there are enough American Catholics in America, especially white American Catholics, who support the Republican Party and Donald Trump, that it would ultimately be politically advantageous to pick a fight with the Pope. This is an unprecedented calculation.”

Nearly 60% of white Catholics approve of Trump's handling of immigration, according to a new study from the think tank Public Religion Research Institute. That figure is about 30% for Hispanics, who make up 37% of the U.S. Catholic population.

The growing power and prominence of the Catholic right in the political sphere is illustrated by J.D. Vance, a religious convert who says his politics are guided by his faith. While he argued that the current policy does not contradict the teachings of the Church, he also said there is a responsibility to remember the humanity of people who are in the country illegally.

But some Catholics say that's not what's happening now. Jeanne Rattenbury is a member of St. Gertrude Catholic Church in Chicago. The city has been the focus of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts.

In November, Ms. Rattenbury took part in celebrating a 2,000-person Mass outside an ICE detention center in Chicago's Broadview neighborhood. The People's Mass was one of a series of events by the Coalition for Spiritual and Community Leadership (CSPL). The goal, she said, “was to bring the sacrament to the people inside, to minister to them, which was previously allowed and not allowed.”

CSPL has now filed a federal lawsuit alleging that it was barred from performing religious ministry.

“I am proud to be a Catholic when the Catholic Church, from the Pope to the bishops, says that immigrants have a right to respect. They have the right to have their inherent human dignity respected,” Ms Rattenbury says.

Such is the strength of the sentiment that a church near Boston used a nativity scene to emphasize that Jesus was a refugee.

St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, replaced Baby Jesus with a hand-drawn sign that read, “ICE Was Here.”

Some community members complained, and the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston ordered the display removed, saying it was divisive and violated rules regarding sacred objects. So far the church has not done this.

While many American Catholics hold conservative positions on issues such as abortion, in line with the Church's position, they are also more likely to consider themselves progressive than white evangelical Christians, who have voted overwhelmingly Republican in the last three elections. On the other hand, about a third of white Catholics consistently voted for the Democratic Party.

And nearly a third of Catholics in the United States were born in other countries. “This church was built on immigration,” says David Gibson. “The Catholic brand in the United States is the church of immigrants.”

Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, was one of 216 who supported the USCCB special message. Only five bishops voted against, three abstained.

“There is a fundamental discrepancy between how the church views immigrants in our congregations and how the current administration views immigrants.

“We see a lot more positivity in these immigrants.”

He says he is not in favor of open borders, as Pope Leo has also said, but is against “indiscriminate deportations.”

“The deportations that we are seeing among our parishioners and our people in the United States. [are] non-surgical [or] targeted at criminals,” says the bishop.

He estimates that about half of the families in his predominantly Latino diocese have a family member facing some kind of problem related to their immigration status. Priests are also often immigrants themselves, which puts the Church in an increasingly precarious position.

Bishop Tyson says more than a third of the clergy he has ordained were at some point on a temporary visa before receiving a green card, a process that can seem precarious in the current climate.

“I have a seminarian in the Chicago area. He has a T-visa, but [ICE] showed up and was afraid that he would be caught,” he said.

“Any person’s documents can be revoked. [so] our people always carry their documents with them.”

Bishop Tyson argues that current U.S. policy is contrary to Catholic teaching.

“This must weigh heavily on the conscience of Catholics in public life who support indiscriminate deportations. This is incompatible with the Gospel of life.”

However, Jesse Romero believes that it is the American bishops and the Pope who oppose Catholic doctrine. He argues that the Catechism, which summarizes Church teaching, makes clear that immigrants must obey all laws, including laws about whether they should be in the country.

“We have a large number of bishops in the Catholic Church in America who take a more modernist, liberal, progressive view of Scripture and theology.”

Romero says he is praying for their conversion. While he recognizes the pope and bishops as leaders of the faith, “that doesn’t mean they personally think they will do the right thing. They are men.”

“The only sinless person is Jesus. He's perfect. For the rest of us, we need to pray for each other.”