A major driver behind President Trump’s re-election was the support he received from religious voters. However, the largest Christian denomination in the world has become one of the most consistent critics of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. 

Despite Mr. Trump’s efforts to promote religious themes and maintain support among religious voters, one of his sharpest critics has been the Catholic Church, with harsh criticism coming not just from individual leaders or organizations but from the Vatican itself

Several religious organizations and churches have spoken out to condemn the policies. Still, the Catholic Church, given its size and consistent criticism, stands out in that the directive to speak out is not coming from individual congregations but from the top down. 

In September, Pope Leo XIV spoke out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in response to a question about the controversy surrounding the archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich, and his decision to award Senator Dick Durbin a lifetime achievement award in spite of his support of abortion access, which the Catholic Church opposes. 

The pope said, “Someone who says I’m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life.”

“And someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” he added. 

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Chicago criticized the immigration crackdown this week, saying, “[Immigrants’] dignity as parents must be taken into account before they are ripped away in full sight from their children, who are now citizens, and hauled away as criminals.”

“Our pastors are telling us attendance at mass, particularly in Latino communities, is down because people are afraid to come out. That is very sad,” he said. 

The bishop of El Paso, Mark Seitz, told Reuters earlier this month that the pope is “very personally concerned about these matters” and urged bishops to “speak strongly on this issue.”

The archbishop of Washington, Robert McElroy, told CNN in July that the policy of mass deportations is “not only incompatible with Catholic teaching,” but is also “morally repugnant.”

Several Catholic advocacy organizations have also spoken out against the Trump administration’s policies. In January, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement criticizing Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, which the organization said are “deeply troubling” and will have “negative consequences.”

Some dioceses have responded to sweeping immigration raids by telling members of their congregation they have an exemption from attending Mass if they are afraid because of the raids. 

Earlier this year, several denominations, such as the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, released statements criticizing Mr. Trump’s immigration policy and urging their congregations to treat migrants with dignity and in accordance with their Biblical values. 

And in February, a group of 27 Christian and Jewish organizations sued the Trump administration over its policy that opened the door for immigration agents to make arrests at places of worship. 

While there have been individual pastors and churches that have spoken out to criticize the administration’s immigration policies, the mainline Protestant denominations, at least publicly, have not urged clergy members to speak out as the Vatican has. 

In one case, a ministry that is part of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, PCA, and focused on outreach and disaster response, the Mission to North America, came under fire after it posted resources to help illegal immigrants avoid deportation. The ministry leaders deleted the information and said they “repent and apologize.”

Trump administration officials have brushed off the Catholic Church’s criticism of its immigration policies. 

In February, the border tsar, Tom Homan, responded to criticism from the pope, saying, “I’ve got harsh words for the pope: I say this as a lifelong Catholic. He ought to focus on his work and leave enforcement to us. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?”

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said earlier this month that she “would reject” the claim that “there was inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration.” Instead, she said the administration is “trying to enforce our nation’s laws in the most humane way possible.”