- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13,690
- Points
- 113
Top official says ‘no deportations’ is one of the Holy See’s key policies, a week after pope clashed with US administration over its illegal immigration crackdown
Pope Francis (R) listens to US President Donald Trump during a private audience at the Vatican on May 24, 2017. (Evan Vucci/Pool/AFP)
A top Vatican official on Thursday rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to move Palestinians from Gaza, saying “the Palestinian population must remain on its land.”
“This is one of the fundamental points of the Holy See: no deportations,” said Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, on the sidelines of an Italy-Vatican meeting, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Moving Palestinians out would cause regional tensions and “makes no sense” as neighboring countries such as Jordan are opposed, he continued.
“The solution in our opinion is that of two states because this also means giving hope to the population,” he said.
Trump has proposed taking over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and moving its more than two million residents to Jordan or Egypt.
Countries around the world, including allies of Washington and Jerusalem, have come out against the idea, which experts say could violate international law. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has hailed it as a “revolutionary” arrangement for Gaza’s governance after the war sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Pope Francis, right, addresses the audience during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican on January 8, 2025. (Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)
Just a month into the new Trump administration, the White House has found itself on a collision course with the Holy See.
Last week, Pope Francis criticized Trump’s plans for mass deportations of undocumented migrants in the United States, drawing a sharp response from the White House.
In a letter to US bishops, the head of the Catholic Church called the deportations a “major crisis” and said sending back people who had fled their own countries in distress “damages the dignity” of the migrants.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, responded: “I wish he’d stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us.”
