Pope Francis denounces Trump's deportation plans as a 'disgrace'

Pope Francis on Jan. 19 denounced President Donald Trump's provisional plans to carry out a massive deportation of migrants as a "disgrace."

The pope's brief remarks came in a Sunday night Italian television interview on the eve of Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration for another term as president of the United States where he has vowed to evict millions of immigrants from the country.

Francis — who has become one of the most vocal global champions of migrants since his election as pontiff in 2013 — described the incoming president's plans as "not the way to solve things."

"If it is true, it will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill for the inequalities," said the pope of Trump's plans for widespread deportation. "It won't do."

Trump, who was elected in November, has vowed to carry out the largest deportation program in American history. 

Ahead of Trump's first term in office, in 2016, the pope suggested that the then-presidential contender was not a Christian for his plans to erect a wall blocking migrants from crossing the southern U.S. border. 

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," said the pope at the time. 

Trump will be sworn in as president for a second term of office on Jan. 20 and tentative plans are underway for a massive migrant round-up in Chicago.

In a Jan. 19 statement, Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich also condemned those plans as "deeply disturbing."

"The Catholic community stands with the people of Chicago in speaking out in defense of the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers," he said. "Similarly, if the reports are true, it should be known that we would oppose any plan that includes a mass deportation of U.S. citizens born of undocumented parents."

"If the indiscriminate mass deportation being reported were to be carried out, this would be an affront to the dignity of all people and communities, and deny the legacy of what it means to be an American," he stated. 

The National Catholic Reporter's Rome Bureau is made possible in part by the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath.