This is not the first time Pope Francis has clashed with Trump over the Republican standard-bearer’s immigration policies.
The first Latin American pope and first non-European leader of the Catholic Church in nearly 1,300 years called Trump “unchristian” in 2016 over his plans to build a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico.
Trump then responded, calling Pope Francis “shameful” and a “very political person.” The two apparently smoothed things over in 2017 when Trump visited the Vatican on a trip he called the “honor of a lifetime.”
Pope Francis said Sunday that he has not spoken to Trump since the president-elect won the November election. He also called on countries with falling birth rates to accept more migrants.
“Italy has an average age of 46…let migrants in,” he said, but added that migrants must be “integrated.”
“If the migrant is not integrated, that’s a problem,” he said.
US President Joe Biden, who leaves office on Monday, is only the second Catholic president in history after John F. Kennedy. Biden was scheduled to meet Pope Francis in Rome during his latest foreign trip, but canceled the visit due to the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires.
