By Joshua McKelvey
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to dramatically increase immigration enforcement in the U.S. within days of his inauguration.
In an interview on Italian television, the pontiff said it would be a “shame” if Trump went ahead with the plan, in unusually forceful language for the leader of the global Catholic Church.
“It forces migrants who have nothing to pay unpaid taxes,” Pope said. “It doesn’t work. You don’t solve problems that way.”
The pope’s announcement was made during a video link from his Vatican residence on the “Che Tempo Che Fa” program on Italy’s Channel 9.
Francis, the leader of the 1.4 billion-member church, is usually cautious about political issues.
The pope has made welcoming migrants a central theme of his nearly 12-year papacy, and he has previously criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said that Trump was “not a Christian” in his opinion.
Incoming Trump administration officials said Saturday that the president-elect will discuss plans for immigration raids in Chicago next week, following reports of the plans.
Earlier on Sunday, the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blaze Cupich, also criticized the planned raids. “It would be an insult to the dignity of all people and society,” the cardinal said in a statement.