Vásquez was most recently selected by Francis to oversee the Diocese of Tyler, also in Texas, after he dismissed its former bishop, Joseph Strickland, who had openly accused the pope of being a heretic and called into question the validity of his leadership.

Pope Francis offered President Trump his congratulations on returning to the White House, but called his plan to deport millions of immigrants from the U.S. a "disgrace." Why it matters: American Catholics strongly supported Trump in the 2024 election.

This is not the first time the pope has rebuked the president-elect’s position on illegal immigrants. In September 2024, Francis criticized then-candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump when asked a question about the U.S. presidential election. The pope blasted Harris’s position on abortion and Trump’s immigration stance.

The pope has made welcoming migrants a key theme of his nearly 12-year papacy, and he has previously criticized Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said Trump was "not Christian" in his view.

Pope Francis criticized Donald Trump's plans for the deportation of immigrants from the United States, calling them a "disgrace." He also emphasized that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in a two-state formula.

Pope Francis called President-elect Donald Trump's plans for the deportation of illegal immigrants a "disgrace."

Francis' prayer for the 47th president followed a Sunday interview with Italian media in which he called Trump's proposed immigration policy 'a disgrace.'

It’s also a topic which resonates personally with Francis. In his new autobiography, the Pope recalled how his paternal grandparents and father had planned to sail in 1927 on the Principessa Mafalda from Italy to Argentina, which sank with the loss of many lives, but ended up making a later crossing.

The comments provided the latest indication of a potential renewal of friction between the Vatican and the next Trump White House.

Pope Francis on Monday offered well-wishes to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in a traditional message sent ahead of the presidential inauguration ceremony in Washington. The pontiff, who has previously expressed sharp disagreement with Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric,