In His Own Words: Pope Francis' Letter to America Before His Death
His final meeting with J.D. Vance was cordial - his written words were not.
The images of Pope Francis granting an audience to J.D. Vance just hours before his death was a reminder of his blistering letter to American bishops two months earlier.
Pope Francis called Trump's mass deportations a "major crisis" of human dignity. Trump officials invoke religion to justify cruelty, Francis reminds them that Jesus himself was "expelled from his own land" and forced to "take refuge in a society and culture foreign to his own."
This isn't theological nitpicking. It's Francis exposing the moral bankruptcy of conservative Catholics who champion walls while claiming to follow a refugee savior.
"Avoid walls of ignominy," Francis wrote directly - not offering political commentary but delivering moral judgment. His words strip away the pretense that family separation and mass deportations have any compatibility with Christian teaching.
Vance’s team is attempting smooth over the symbolism of the VP being one of the last people to see the Pope Francis, principled to the end, engaged with everyone - but he disapproved with the Regime.
The Last Supper: Pope Francis Met J.D. Vance Hours Before His Death
Pope Francis died at 88 on Easter Monday, just one day after meeting with J.D. Vance at the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican. The photographs of their 17-minute encounter tell a story more eloquent than words. Vance, a Catholic convert since 2019, stood before the frail pontiff who had earlier refused him a private audience, instead directing his Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher to meet with the VP. Yet in the end, Francis relented to this brief meeting, gifting Vance's children chocolate Easter eggs, rosaries, and a Vatican-themed tie.
Paid subscribers can read the letter in full below. Here are the key highlights.
• Mass deportations are a "major crisis" that damages human dignity
• Equating migration status with criminality contradicts Christian conscience
• Jesus himself was a migrant who fled persecution
• Human dignity trumps all legal considerations
• Deportation of people fleeing poverty and persecution is indefensible
• "Walls of ignominy" must be replaced with bridges
• National identity concerns easily become ideological distortion
• Catholics must reject narratives discriminating against migrants
• Our Lady of Guadalupe should protect those living in fear of deportation
Francis' February 2025 letter is available below for download
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