VATICAN CITY, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Pope Leo urged the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump’s hard-line anti-immigration policies.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, told thousands of pilgrims celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square that immigrants should not be treated with “the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination”.
The pope, who did not single out any country for its treatment of migrants, called on Catholics to “open our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope.”
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Leo had criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies on September 30, questioning whether they were in line with the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings, in comments that drew heated backlash from some prominent conservative Catholics.
