Pope Leo XIV met with Catholic clergy and lay leaders from Chicago following his general audience on October 28, highlighting the Church’s pastoral outreach to migrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to Vatican News, the meeting included Auxiliary Bishop José María García Maldonado of Chicago, several priests, and lay representatives of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), an organization involved in providing pastoral care to migrants held in immigration detention facilities.
The encounter brought representatives from the Pope’s native Chicago to the Vatican at a time when immigration enforcement and the treatment of detained migrants remain subjects of significant debate in the United States.
During the meeting, coalition member Tiffany Swann-Covington expressed gratitude for the Pope’s encouragement of those involved in immigrant ministry.
“You have inspired us and countless bishops to carry on this work across the country,” Swann-Covington said she told Pope Leo, according to LifeSiteNews.
“Please continue to pray for us and encourage us through your words and your guidance.”
Since his election in May 2025, Pope Leo has repeatedly addressed the responsibility of Catholics to recognize the dignity of migrants and respond to their spiritual and humanitarian needs.
His statements have also contributed to a broader discussion about how Catholic teaching should inform immigration policy, particularly when questions of national security, border enforcement, and the treatment of undocumented immigrants intersect.
In November 2025, Pope Leo expressed support for a statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) addressing immigration enforcement and the treatment of migrants.
At the time, the Pontiff acknowledged the authority of nations to regulate immigration while expressing concern about the treatment of individuals who have established lives in the United States.
“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who, and how, and when people enter,” Pope Leo said, according to remarks cited by LifeSiteNews.
“But when people are living good lives – and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years – to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence unfortunately.”
The Pope’s comments reflect an ongoing challenge facing Catholic leaders: balancing the responsibility of governments to uphold immigration laws with the Church’s call to protect human dignity.
Catholic social teaching recognizes both principles.
According to the USCCB’s document, Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples, sovereign nations have the right to regulate their borders and determine immigration policies. At the same time, the Church teaches that migrants, regardless of their legal status, possess inherent human dignity and deserve humane treatment.
The bishops also acknowledge that nations are not obligated to admit every person seeking entry, emphasizing that immigration policies must consider the common good alongside humanitarian responsibilities.
These principles have become increasingly prominent as Catholic leaders respond to immigration enforcement measures in the United States and migration pressures abroad.
Some Church leaders have raised concerns about the broader cultural and religious consequences of large-scale migration, particularly in Europe.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Bishop Athanasius Schneider addressed the issue in remarks from 2025 that recently resurfaced online, expressing concern about the arrival of large numbers of Muslim migrants in European countries.
“Now we are witnessing an invasion. They are not refugees – no – this is an invasion of the mass Islamization of Europe,” Schneider said.
He further alleged that powerful political interests were promoting migration to undermine Europe’s Christian identity. His statements represent a sharply different emphasis from the pastoral concerns highlighted in Pope Leo’s meeting with the Chicago delegation.
The Vatican encounter also comes amid continuing discussions about the Pope’s engagement with different groups within the Catholic Church.
LifeSiteNews noted that Pope Leo had not met with representatives of the Society of St. Pius X ahead of their planned episcopal consecrations in July. The outlet also reported that the Pope had not responded to a request from organizers of the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage seeking permission to celebrate a Traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
While those matters concern separate questions of Church governance and liturgical practice, they have contributed to wider discussions about the priorities of the current pontificate.
For the Chicago Catholic leaders who traveled to Rome, however, the October 28 meeting centered on their ministry to people facing immigration detention.
Their encounter with Pope Leo underscored the Church’s continuing involvement in one of the most contentious public policy debates in the United States.
As Catholics consider these questions, the Church’s teaching calls for both respect for legitimate civil authority and recognition of the dignity of every human person.
The challenge remains how those responsibilities can be upheld together while addressing the complex realities of immigration, national sovereignty, and the pastoral needs of vulnerable individuals.
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