Following a papal audience, Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, said that Pope Leo has been “a great source of encouragement and support for the United States bishops” in their position on immigration and that “our Holy Father feels very strongly about this.”
“I had the opportunity to speak with him, and I can say in the conversation, you could see that this was a matter of great concern for him,” said Archbishop Sample.
Archbishop Sample, who chairs the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, also discussed the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in his archdiocese.
Agents “began showing up outside of churches and places of worship,” causing “a great deal of doubt and fear and anxiety among our people—people afraid to go to Mass,” the prelate told Catholic News Service, adding, “There has to be a more just, more humane, just a better way to go about this.”