Pope Francis questioned President Trump’s move to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and said the president should rethink his decision if he considers himself to be pro-life.
“I have heard the president of the United States speak. He presents himself as a pro-life man. If he is a good pro-lifer, he should understand that the family is the cradle of life, and you must defend its unity,” the pope said when asked about Trump’s decision to end DACA, according to reports.
Pope Francis discussed the end of DACA with reporters aboard the papal plane during a flight from Cartagena to Rome on Sunday.
The pope acknowledged he hasn’t studied the details of the program, which was instituted under former President Barack Obama in 2012, but said he believes “removing young people from their family is not a thing that bears good fruit, neither for the young person nor the family.”
The pope also said he hoped the decision can be “re-thought a little.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last week DACA would end by March 5, 2018. The Trump administration gave Congress a six-month window to pass legislation dealing with Dreamers, the name given to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and are protected from deportation under the program.
DACA provides legal protections for approximately 800,000 people between the ages of 15 and 36, but the Department of Homeland Security said 200,000 Dreamers whose permits expire between now and March 5 could see their legal status expire by the end of the year if they fail to apply for renewal by Oct. 5.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, and many other Catholic leaders came out against the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA last week.
Their opposition drew sharp rebuke from Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist and a devout Catholic, who accused the Catholic Church of acting in its own personal interest.
“The bishops have been terrible about this. By the way, you know why? You know why? Because unable to really to … come to grips with the problems in the church, they need illegal aliens, they need illegal aliens to fill the churches,” Bannon told CBS last week. “That’s – it’s obvious on the face of it. That’s what – the entire Catholic bishops condemn him. … They have an economic interest. They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration, unlimited illegal immigration.”
