"I'm not going to speak for the President, I'm speaking for myself, a lifelong Catholic," Homan said. "I would say, stay out of immigration. They don't know what they're talking about."
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Tom Homan / C-SPAN[/caption]
"Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a nine-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor-trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet including a five-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happen on the open border, I think their opinion would change," Homan continued.
"And I welcome a discussion with any of them, because they don't understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. Where President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved. He's saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border," Homan said.
"Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border. I wish they'd understand that. Because if they did, I think they'd have a different opinion."
The pope has also been critical of Trump's handling of the conflict with Iran. Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social:"Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable. Thank you for your attention to this matter. AMERICA IS BACK!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP".
Why the criticism from the Catholic Church? Here's what some observers are pointing to: In January of last year, it was revealed that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and other Catholic organizations were getting hundreds of millions from the U.S. government to "resettle" immigrants in America. The Trump Administration turned off that funding spigot, and the criticisms followed. Amy Curtis wrote for Townhall.com on April 15: "But the Vatican, which has some of the strictest immigration laws imaginable, and the Swiss Guard to help enforce them, has no idea what the problems are like on the ground at the U.S. border. Tom Homan, a Catholic who has spent decades working on immigration, does." Curtis noted that Homan "is exactly right. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear on the issue, too. Countries are only obligated to the extent that they are able to welcome immigrants. And those immigrants have an obligation to obey their new country's laws and culture. We're spending billions on people who do not obey our laws, we've allowed terrorists and Chinese spies to cross the border unvetted, and it's dangerous." As for Pope Leo, Breitbart's John Nolte likened the pontiff to more of a Democrat Party operative:"We all expect a pope to talk about and pray for peace in times of war, express a desire for unity in times of political divisiveness, and to always appeal to the best in humanity. That’s not what this pope has done. Instead, apparently under the sway of Barry Obama’s hatchet man and former campaign manager, David Axelrod, Leo is recklessly engaging in a left-wing campaign to damage President Trump’s and the Republican Party’s standing with Catholics, and, by extension, his own standing as a credible spiritual leader."
Leo's papacy began on May 8, 2025. Since then, he has repeatedly attacked Trump’s positions on immigration and criticized what he describes as Trump’s “diplomacy based on force,” particularly Trump's efforts to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to free the Iranian people from their oppressive regime. "Leo is just plain morally wrong when it comes to bashing Trump," Nolte wrote. "To begin with, no reasonable or moral person is okay with the suicidal mullahs of Iran obtaining nukes, and that’s the only choice here. Instead of grasping that piece of moral clarity, Leo’s criticism of the war makes him sound, at best, naïve. At worst, he sounds like every other leftist looking for any excuse to attack Trump." Nolte concluded: "Whereas Francis mixed a touching and relentless humanity in his reign, Leo comes off as a cold and calculating talking head; a bloodless bureaucrat in a tall hat. Francis was sincere in his desire to save souls, the primary job of the Catholic Church. "Leo seems sincere only in his desire to earn the good opinion of the New York Times and Hillary Clinton. It’s a grotesque and un-Christian dereliction of duty."🚨 WOW. Border Czar Tom Homan just gave the PERFECT response to Pope Leo
"I'm a lifelong Catholic. I wish they'd STAY OUT of immigration, they don't know what they're talking about." "Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got r*ped… pic.twitter.com/9KBT1Pbiiu — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 14, 2026
