There is an old adage that goes like this: “If someone says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.”
While the Roman Catholic Church has largely been quiet on geopolitical matters over the past few decades, it’s only been since President Donald Trump started to more aggressively enforce America’s standing border protection policies and immigration laws that the Vatican has clearly gotten political.
Sure, popes have always decried war in general, and sometimes very specific wars. Not only is that to be expected, but it’s also a moral checkpoint for civilization. Rarely, however, has the Vatican targeted specific leaders in the way Pope Leo XIV has done in the case of Trump, most recently for initiating the current hostilities in Iran to prevent a nuclear Iranian regime, and perhaps more deeply, his enforcement of immigration law.
In short, the pope has taken sides. He’s become political. In singling Trump out as the target of his ire, he’s in effect siding with America’s enemies. He’s not criticizing Iran or attacking the mullahs. He’s not getting into the issue of what happens if Iran obtains nuclear weaponry. He’s aligned himself with Trump’s critics.
Before the Iran war, it was mostly over illegal immigration. It’s clear that the American bishops have received their marching orders and are dutifully demonizing Trump.
Here is the official full video of the U.S. Bishops' Special Pastoral Message on Immigration (the one Pope Leo invited everyone to listen to): pic.twitter.com/OHhuE3WRii
— UnitasSacra (@UnitasSacra) April 14, 2026
When is the last time the American bishops produced such a slick video about anything? Yet, for the first time in memory, American bishops are openly waging a PR campaign against the sitting U.S. president.
To be clear, had Trump never delivered on his promise to shut down America’s borders to illegal aliens, the Catholic church would not have been so aroused. But of course, it’s not about the money.
Now, it’s being reported that the Trump administration has put a halt to an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities for what it describes as sheltering and caring for “migrant children” who come to America alone. Sounds indefensible to stop such funding, doesn’t it? Except that someone needs to ask Catholic Charities some questions.
If these kids are alone, how did they figure out how to travel across countries and cross what is supposed to be a guarded border? More specifically, who “helped” them? Better yet, who trafficked them? Who recruited them? Who paid for all their food, living, and lodging expenses prior to crossing the border? How did they get here? And why did they have to come to America, and not Canada or Mexico? (That last question is rhetorical. We know why.)
Catholic Charities can’t pretend to be humanitarian with boots-on-the-ground services for children, while at the same time not addressing what’s really happened with many of these kids.
The Miami Herald reported that this “development comes amid rising tensions between the administration and American Catholics over President Donald Trump’s heated criticism of the Vatican’s first American pope, Leo XIV. The pontiff has made opposition to the U.S. war with Iran, as well as concern for the welfare of migrants, a cornerstone of his ministry.”
Replace the word “ministry” with “politics,” and that’s an accurate assessment.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has paid Catholic Charities in Miami for several years to house immigrant children who enter the U.S. without parents or adult supervision,” wrote the Herald. “The non-profit operates the equivalent of a federally funded foster care system, separate and apart from state agencies that have custody of abused and neglected children. The federal government reached out to the charity in late March about the cancellation of the funding.
In a statement to the Herald, Miami’s Archbishop Thomas Wenski said:
The U.S. government has abruptly decided to end more than 60 years of relationship with Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Miami… The Archdiocese of Miami’s services for unaccompanied minors have been recognized for their excellence and have served as a model for other agencies throughout the country.
Wenski added that due to the funding cuts from the American taxpayer, “Catholic Charities’ services for unaccompanied minors has been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months.”
In other words, without federal money, a Catholic Charities program cannot survive. That tells you just how dependent on your federal tax money this specific church program is.
The Trump administration made a very interesting point in its defense. Since Trump took office in 2025, the flow of unaccompanied illegal alien children has dropped dramatically. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told the Herald that “the daily population of unaccompanied migrant children in the agency’s care was ‘significantly lower,’ at 1,900, under the Trump administration compared to a peak of 22,000 under the Biden administration.”
Less demand means less money, right? Not if you’re Catholic Charities. That’s operating money on which the organization depends. What all of this means is that the church has no incentive to want the flow of illegal immigrants to stop in the U.S. On the contrary, it has every incentive to keep America’s borders wide open, no questions asked. Roughly $11 million in incentives in this case.
HHS explained that a reorganization on the federal government side is behind all of this. HHS is closing its Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and “consolidating unused facilities as the Trump Administration continues efforts to stop illegal entry and the smuggling and trafficking of unaccompanied alien children,” Emily G. Hillard, the Health and Human Services’ press secretary, told the Herald.
That’s good news, right? Not if you’re Catholic Charities.
Back in 2015, when Barack Obama was president, the federal government spent over $500 million on a large number of nonprofit organizations that reportedly provided direct support to illegal aliens. That has been the operative number ever since, but it’s likely higher than that.
Shortly after taking office in 2025, Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, called out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation:
I think that the [USCCB] needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million [from the federal government] to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns or are they actually worried about their bottom line?, he told CBS’s Margaret Brennan.
Margaret Brennan tried to TRAP JD Vance, who is a Catholic, with a question about US Catholic Bishops coming out this week and taking an official stance against Trumps immigration policies…
— Zach Costello (@ZachCostello_) January 27, 2025
JD shuts her down, and calls out the US Catholic Bishops. pic.twitter.com/nTBW7uwCTY
In the universe of federal spending, $11 million is a rounding error, but this is an important move on the part of the Trump administration. It highlights just how dependent the Catholic Church is on the U.S. federal government for its work, particularly in the area of illegal immigration. It also highlights the business reason the Vatican has a problem with Trump.
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