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

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.