President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan was called out for hypocrisy after telling Pope Leo XIV to "stay out of politics" after he clashed with Trump over the widely unpopular war in Iran.
Last week, Pope Leo criticized the war and called on the world "to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war, which is continuing to escalate and is not resolving anything."
Trump later took to Truth Social in an attempt to discredit the Pope, saying he doesn't "want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon." Among other things, Trump said the Pope should "stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician."
Historically, the Catholic Church views the act of war as a consequence of sin and a failure of humanity, so it's unsurprising that the Pope spoke out against it.
But Homan criticized the Pope, recommending he "stick to fixing the Church and stay out of politics":
“Look, I’ve spent my whole life in the Catholic Church, but I’m disappointed that they want to weigh in on political issues like this. There are enough problems with the Catholic Church—and I know because I’m a member of the Catholic Church—that they need to fix and concentrate on and leave politics alone."
“I mean, they talk about that they don’t believe in a secure border, they need to support open borders. However, if you cross the wall at the Vatican, you’re going to prison, and the penalties are much worse there than they are here.”
'I wish they would sit down and let me educate them on open borders. When President Trump has illegal immigration down 97 percent, how many women aren’t being raped by the cartels? How many children aren’t dying making that journey? How many pounds of fentanyl aren’t killing Americans? How many women and children aren’t being sex trafficked?"
Homan said that "with an open border, the most vulnerable people in the world are going to give their life savings to the cartels" to afford a journey to the U.S., blaming the Biden administration for a "historic" number of border crossings and fentanyl-related deaths.
He added:
"I wish they'd sit down with me and hear my experiences these last 40 years. Maybe they'd understand why a secure border saves lives. A secure border is the most humane thing this country can do."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Pope Leo previously criticized the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and urged legislators to make sure immigrants' "spiritual rights" are being respected.
In February, responding to the news that Catholic migrants detained in Chicago have been denied access to Holy Communion, he stressed that “the role of the Church is to preach the Gospel."
Pope Leo was previously criticized by MAGA supporters after they became aware of an article he once shared that criticized Vice President JD Vance because "Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
Notably, the Pope previously condemned the Trump administration on social media for Trump’s “anti-immigrant rhetoric” back in 2015. He later reposted messages criticizing the death penalty, mass deportations, and Congress’s failure to act on gun reform after mass shootings.
But considering the lengths Republicans have gone to to inject religion into politics—Trump even created a task force dedicated to rooting out "anti-Christian bias" and has pledged to his evangelical supporters that he will make religion a focal point of everyday life—Homan's words rang hollow.
He was swiftly called out.
Homan might want to study that holy book again.
