Days before going to the hospital in Rome in February 2025, Pope Francis sent a very strong rebuke to American bishops for their tepid response to the mass deportation orders of the Trump administration. The letter unequivocally condemned the actions of the US government.

It was eloquently grounded in Catholic social teachings and scripture, clearly calling out members of the US hierarchy whose responses had tended to ignore the urgency of this appalling and destructive policy. There were exceptions to this insidious pattern, notably Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, who called the mass deportation orders an attempt to “eviscerate humanitarian protections.”

In this same letter, in paragraph six, Francis offered a strong response to J. D. Vance’s conceited misinterpretation of ordo amoris, an Augustine and Thomist concept that encourages Catholics to engage in works of charity. Francis said: “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Lk 10:25-37).”