Faithful Roman Catholics hoped the first American pope, Leo XIV, would make a decisive break with Pope Francis, but he is already continuing one of his predecessor’s worst habits: putting the moral authority of world’s largest church behind illegal immigration. So far, Pope Leo XIV’s actions and statements signal that he will offer Americans more baptized lawlessness on the border. This should have become obvious when then-Cardinal Robert Prevost amplified Pope Francis’ last major papal communiqué — a pointed attack on patriotic, Christian policies and an apology for open borders that violated Vatican practice, his church’s tradition, and the Holy Bible.
When the Veep Vanquished the Vicar
The final letter Pope Francis wrote before entering the hospital for the last time emerged from his beef with Vice President J.D. Vance’s theological defense of border enforcement. Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity his America First policies come from Christian teachings:
“There’s this old school — and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far-Left has completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society.”
Vance later encouraged social media followers to “Google ‘ordo amoris,’” which means loving everything in the right order.
The ailing pontiff spent his last days pouncing on the Catholic politician for implying Christians could oppose open borders. The veep got it all wrong, he wrote. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” but “true ordo amoris … builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” Sigma Tau Open Borders.
The late pope seemed to adopt the Jasmine Crockett theory of illegal immigration: “The rightly formed conscience” can only condemn the notion that even tacitly “identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” Sovereign nations can only deport illegal immigrants guilty of “violent or serious crimes.” They must absorb anyone emigrating for any reason, including “extreme poverty,” “insecurity,” or environmental deterioration.
Those conditions sound like East Palestine, Ohio.
To make sure no one missed his target, the pope exhorted “all the faithful of the Catholic Church … to avoid walls of ignominy.”
Since this letter does not meet the criteria for an ex cathedra statement, even faithful Roman Catholics need not view it as infallible — which is good, because it is a motley stew of balderdash.
The Pontiff vs. The Bible and Church Fathers
Pope Francis contended Jesus’ flight into Egypt made Him a “migrant and refugee.” But one can argue, strictly speaking, the Holy Family were not refugees. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph never crossed the borders of the Roman Empire. Unlike the majority of U.S. asylum seekers, they faced real danger. And when conditions changed, they returned to their own country.
On the other hand, the vice president’s version of ordo amoris “begins in the Bible,” noted Pastor Rob Pacienza of Coral Ridge Ministries. The Apostle Paul wrote, “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (I Timothy 5:8). But as in Jesus’ day, religious authorities still deny the biblical obligation to care for one’s kith and kin (Mark 7:10-12).
The church fathers helped Christians understand how to implement the apostle’s instructions. “All men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you,” wrote St. Augustine of Hippo in On Christian Doctrine (Book I, chapter 28). His views shaped those of the most influential theologian in Roman Catholic history, Thomas Aquinas. “We should measure the love of different persons according to the different kinds of union” with us, he wrote. “In matters pertaining to nature we should love our kindred most; in matters concerning relations between citizens, we should prefer our fellow-citizens; and on the battlefield our fellow-soldiers” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q. 26, A. 8). The Angelic Doctor later clarified, “[W]e ought in preference to bestow on each one such benefits as … he is most closely connected with us” (II-II, Q. 31, A. 3).
Pope Francis vs. His Predecessors… and Himself
Pope Francis’ views also contradict the words of his most recent predecessor. “States have the right to regulate migration flows and to defend their own frontiers, always guaranteeing the respect due to the dignity of each and every human person. Immigrants, moreover, have the duty to integrate into the host country, respecting its laws and its national identity,” said Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.
Pope Francis protests that his view of ordo amoris is “not an artificial construct,” but his immigration policy is so strict even his own Vatican rejects it. Two months before the his message, the Vatican increased penalties for those who illegally breach its 39-foot-high walls or its entrances (which are policed round-the-clock by armed Swiss Guards). Violators face a penalty of up to a $25,700 (U.S.) fine and four years in prison under a decree issued six days before Christmas. “The USA should build walls that are exact copies of the walls around the Vatican,” said Catholic theologian Taylor Marshall. If the pope sees strong borders are an illness, well, “Physician, heal thyself” (Luke 4:23).
The Apostolic See vs. The Apostolic Sees
The last pope’s views clash with statements from other apostolic churches, which the ecumenically minded pontiff called “sister churches.” Pope Tawadros II, the patriarch of the Coptic Church, implied an influx of Arab refugees would “compromise Egypt’s national security.” More explicitly, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, said, “[T]here should be government control over how many [legal immigrants] to let in … limited by how much is really needed,” so society can still “provide decent living standards” to its own citizens. Mass migration should never become a source of “excess profits for corporations” seeking to exploit “cheap labor.” In a multi-ethnic society, “It is very important that these groups not be very different culturally” from citizens, “threaten our national identity,” or provoke “violent conflict with natives.”
“And there is no need for these migrants to stay forever,” he added.
This is precisely what Vance explained. Pope Francis, the author of Traditionis Custodes, showed himself theologically inferior to the author of Hillbilly Elegy. But politically motivated eisegesis inevitably results in stilted writing, red herrings, and erroneous conclusions.
America First Policies Threaten the the U.S. Bishops’ Taxpayer Subsidies
The real reason behind Pope Francis’ letter likely came when he told U.S. bishops they would survive the “delicate moments” being ushered in new Trump policies, since they “work closely with migrants and refugees.” That they do, or did. Catholic Relief Services made $4.6 billion from 2013 to 2022 from USAID alone, the agency’s top recipient during that time. In recent years, the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops has “received more than $100 million annually from the federal government to support migration and refugee services,” according to the Catholic News Agency. In all, the bishops received $3 billion over 15 years, according to The Stream’s invaluable John Zmirak — roughly the same amount fiscally decimated dioceses needed to pay off lawsuits against predator-priests. Strangely, after the Trump administration cut off funding, the USCCB triumphantly announced it would not renew its federal contracts — two months after it sued and repeatedly lost legal efforts to keep the money flowing.
As part of the USCCB, the new pope participated in this bustling, billion-dollar business. That may explain why then-Cardinal Prevost’s recently deactivated X account retweeted an article slamming Vance over ordo amoris. The article that won Prevost’s online imprimatur, produced by the dissident publication National Catholic Reporter, garbled together a hodgepodge of Woke nonsense: “Colonial ideology has conditioned us to think in binaries and hierarchies,” it said. (One needn’t guess how the website applies that to gender identity.)
Then-Robert Prevost tweeted, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” Unless Pope Leo XIV wants to help convince his global flock that the pope is, indeed, capable of teaching error, he should jettison the See’s newfound enthusiasm for open borders and embrace more traditional teachings. True Christian doctrine balances would-be immigrants’ hope for a better life with respect for the rule of law, public safety, the national interest, and the well-being of its citizens — which Christian rulers consider first. Just like J.D. Vance does.
Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and commentator for such outlets as the The Daily Wire, The Acton Institute, the Family Research Council, LifeSiteNews, and FrontPageMag.com. He is the author of three books, including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His views are his own.
