By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday criticized President-elect Donald Trump's reported plan to sharply tighten U.S. immigration enforcement days after his inauguration.
In an Italian television interview, the pope said it would be “shameful” if Trump went ahead with the plan, in unusually strong language for the leader of the world Catholic Church.
“It will make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid debt,” the pope said. “It doesn't work. You don't solve problems like this.”
The pope's comments were made during a video link from his Vatican residence to the “Che Tempo Che Fa” program on Italy's Channel 9.
Francis, the leader of the church of about 1.4 billion, is always wary of exploring political issues.
The pope has made welcoming immigrants a central theme of his nearly 12-year papacy, and has previously criticized Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said Trump was “not a Christian” in his opinion.
Incoming Trump administration officials said Saturday that the president-elect was reconsidering plans to attack immigrants in Chicago next week, following reports about the plans.
Earlier on Sunday, the Catholic archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, also condemned the planned attack. “This would be an affront to the dignity of all people and society,” the cardinal said in a statement.