Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV became “visibly emotional” upon receiving messages on Oct. 8 from immigrants fearing deportation in the United States, a member of a U.S. delegation said.
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, and Dylan Corbett of Hope Border Institute gave the pope a collection of handwritten letters from migrant families expressing fear and faith. They showed the pope a video with immigrants’ voices saying mass deportations in the United States are breaking family bonds and stripping children of safety.
“We live in a state of constant anxiety, never knowing if tomorrow will bring separation,” an immigrant says in the video.
Corbett posted on X that Leo told the delegation, which included immigrants: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”
One letter writer expressed fear of leaving the house, even to see a doctor, and asked for prayers for President Donald Trump that his heart may be filled with love, compassion, and empathy. The Trump administration is undertaking a massive expansion of enforcement, detention, and border control efforts.
‘You could see tears in his eyes’
Corbett, founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, described the 25-minute encounter with Pope Leo to CNA.
“Bishop Seitz spoke about the Church in the United States’ commitment to walking alongside immigrants and refugees in our country,” Corbett recalled, noting Seitz’s remarks had been unscripted. “And the Holy Father quickly said he wanted the Church in the United States to be more united and forceful on this issue, and that what’s happening right now is an injustice.”
“We were then able to share from our perspective some of what we’re seeing across the United States right now in terms of the campaign of mass deportations,” he continued, adding: “The Holy Father grew visibly emotional about that.”
The group presented Leo with “over 100 letters from immigrants across the country who are at risk of deportation or who are in mixed families.” The delegation also presented the Holy Father with a video featuring “voices drawn from those letters that tell the story of the anxieties and fears, and also the hopes, right now of the immigrant community.”
At this point, Corbett said Leo “became emotional and you could see tears in his eyes.”
“He was very supportive and encouraging,” Corbett said, noting several representatives from the immigrant community were also present for the meeting and offered their testimonies.
Fernie Ceniceros, a spokesperson for the El Paso Diocese, told CNA: “The Diocese of El Paso is thrilled to know that the Holy Father was able to meet with Bishop Mark Seitz and our Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino and a small delegation of local immigration advocates that included clergy from with the diocese.”
“We are blessed to know that the Holy Father expressed his support of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border along with migrants all over the world,” he added.
Ceniceros shared several images of the letters given to Leo, including one in English and one in Spanish.
One of the letters sent by an El Paso priest on loan from the Srikakulam Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, India, described “feeling a sort of insecurity … due to the immigration situation” and noted that many are “scared to move comfortably even with legal documentation.”
The letter further appealed to the Holy Father for papal support in being “a voice for the voiceless” while also “uphold[ing] the right of nations to regulate borders and the right of people to seek a better life.”
Another letter from an anonymous immigrant lacking legal status in California told Leo: “These days we are living with a lot of fear, confusion, and sadness.” The letter appealed to the Holy Father to “continue petitioning our God and to continue listening to the voice of the needy immigrant community, raising his voice alongside our brothers and sisters from separated families.”
“Thank you for listening to us,” it concluded.
Messages from migrants
One letter said:
“Dear Pope Leo, there are two members of my family without documents. I feel afraid to go out to work and that I could be separated from my family. I think that there should be demand for the immigration agents not to be allowed to get close to parishes, and the raids should stop, because they only create pain and fear. I think the pope should be openly against the raids, and the unjust treatment that’s affecting the community. Speaking clearly and concisely about the situation that we are in and condemning the way in which so-called Christians in power are acting.”
Another letter said:
“We are a mixed family. I am very sad, with a lot of pain and fear. I have not gone out for two weeks and when I do go out, I’m afraid, even when I have to go to the doctor. I think that the Church could help us in getting immigration lawyers to support us and all of those who have been detained. The Church could also give protection to families that remain here. Pope Leo, you know the whole situation that the world is living in, that there is a lot of pain and that we don’t have peace. We ask for your prayers and that you would speak to those who you should speak to. I also ask for prayers for Donald Trump for his heart to be filled with love, compassion, and empathy.”
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So, what happens next? Do these people expect the pope to censure Trump for enforcing US immigration law?
I definitely agree with allowing legal immigrants to enter the U.S.A.–we have many fields that are desperately short-staffed and need WORKERS who don’t necessarily require a college education! If immigrants are willing to WORK in menial jobs (e.g., dishwashing and other restaurant work, maintenance, house-cleaning, etc.), or do more skilled jobs (carpentry, welding, car repair and maintenance, nursing and health care aids, child-care helpers, lawn care and gardening, farm hands, etc.), they should be welcomed with open arms, as many of these professions are short-staffed since COVID and the disappearance of younger Americans who are still nervous about going out (what if they catch a deadly disease that kills them like it killed Grandpa?!) are still hiding out at home and living life through their I-phones. (I don’t blame for being scared, but it will get even scarier for them the older their parents get and eventually retire.)
I am wondering if one of the barriers to admitting more immigrants is the shortage of border workers? These days, there are shortages of workers in most fields, especially the health care field and the industrial field, as well as wait staff in restaurants and fast food places. A lot of this is because legal abortion has killed the millions of people who should be grown up and ready to take their places in the working world. Yes, we are replacing many professions with automation and robots, but—robots aren’t always capable of providing a human touch to professions like health care. And a computer or robot can’t build a housing development or repair a toilet, although it may eventually have that capability–but there currently aren’t enough engineers to do the work to develop the “Jetson Robot” who can cook, take care of children, and do all the house cleaning as well as carry on a conversation!
Yes, we need immigrants, not only to work, but to contribute their traditions to the tapestry that makes American culture so beautiful. Yes, we need to ship immigrants who are criminals back to their countries, but we need to open our doors to immigrants who want to become part of the Great American Society.
One looks forward to the practical proposal the Holy Father will offer instructing nations on just how to absorb an unrelenting invasion of unvetted impoverished migrants with no skills assisting them to survive in technologically sophisticated societies.
That surely not forthcoming, the Holy Father might best address the petty third world dictators exporting their criminal class, as well as their poor and oppressed, and instruct them on the means of establishing just and prospering societies. Do I hear crickets?
This global crisis is obviously far outside the Holy Father’s wheelhouse. He had best address the issues proper to his portfolio. As reported by Pew Research only 9% of American Roman Catholic believe in the Most Holy Trinity. Given that reality it is safe to assume that the divinity of Jesus Christ is either rejected or misunderstood by a scandalously substantial number of the baptized. And surely the rejection of the sacramental life by a legion of the baptized bespeaks a rejection of a host of other theological realities, the Pachal Mystery, transubstantiation, the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother, et al. Then of course there is the practice of the virtues and the rejection of vices — including breaking the just laws of any society.
We don’t require the sorely lacking economic “expertise” of the Bishop of Rome. We don’t require a globe trotting Pope. We require a Pope intent upon building a Church flourishing with vocations, to the priesthood, the religious life and sacramental Matrimony. That is achieved by catechesis. The crisis proper to Pope Leo’s ministry is that the faith is not being proclaimed — thus far by him, and without doubt his predecessor.
Twelve more years of what we endured during the last twelve years does not do justice to the position to which the Holy Father has been called, nor does it respond to the needs of the faithful. A Cupich-by-proxy pontificate just won’t do.
The observant faithful are waiting.
What concerns me here is the reduction of the whole issue into being “pro-immigrant” vs. “anti-immigrant,” with no possibility for nuance of any kind. That is something the Pope in particular should be especially careful to avoid.
It is not nice but painful to read such reports. People are spending their lives in fear and trembling. Their dream is turning into a nightmare. Peace is a precious resource for on-going-ness, togetherness, and for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.