Religion

Pope Francis responds to Trump's mass deportation policy

The pope pleaded to all Catholic Church members to "not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering."

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Pope Francis criticized President Donald Trump's mass deportation policy in a letter to U.S. bishops Monday and pleaded with people not to give into "narratives that discriminate."

"The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness," he wrote in the letter.

Francis said that the "true common good is prompted" when people welcome and protect the "most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable."

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The first month of the president's second term has been defined by a hard stance against the previous administration's immigration policy.

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"I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters," he wrote.

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