Tensions between the White House and the Holy See a few months before the Midterms. How American Catholics position themselves on Donald Trump
Illegal immigration is leading to new tensions between the Trump administration and the Holy See. “I believe that some of the positions expressed by the Vatican, particularly on the issue of immigration, have been worrying and, ultimately, I do not agree with them,” he declared JD Vance in an interview with Fox News. “I hope that the Catholic leadership has learned from some of the things that Marco, I and the president have said about immigration: that it’s not just about the dignity of the immigrant, but also about the dignity of the workers born here,” he continued. “What I say to the Catholic leaders with whom I speak and who do not agree with our policies on immigration, I do not treat them with hostility: I invite them to have a dialogue, but I also encourage them to remember that mass migration causes victims,” he also said.
That illegal immigration is largely at the basis of the fibrillations between the Holy See and the White House is certainly no mystery. Furthermore, the US bishops have repeatedly criticized the hard line promoted by Donald Trump on the issue. In this respect, it is worth remembering that the US vice president, just like the secretary of state Marco Rubiois of the Catholic faith. In this sense, Vance he returned to address the theme in his latest book Communion. «The Church’s invocation of the dignity of migrants requires a reflection on moral compromises. And one can believe that such compromises lead to favoring a rigorous migration policy without dehumanizing anyone”, he wrote. Not only that. In the same volume, the American vice president had also told, not without a polemical streak, about his meeting in Rome with Vatican diplomats at Easter last year. “There I was, the highest-ranking Catholic in the United States government, and the Vatican seemed reluctant to go beyond the banal phrases made in its moral guide,” he wrote, specifying that the discussions concerned the management of irregular immigration.
At the same time, although he is often pointed out by certain press as quarrelsome and critical, Vance he remains one of the most engaging figures within the American administration towards the Holy See. In May, he had words of praise for the encyclical Magnificent Humanitascalling it “very profound”. Furthermore, at the top levels of the White House, the vice president is the voice who is pushing most forcefully in favor of a diplomatic solution with Iran: a position that brings him closer to Leo XIV. In the background, but not too much, American domestic politics finally stands out, in view of the Midterms of November. According to a survey by Pew Research Center published June 18, 51% of US Catholics believe that Trump has been too critical of the Pope. On the other hand, however, compared to a year ago, the share of Americans who have a favorable opinion of Lion it dropped slightly from 84% to 78%.
