Despite being an American, the new pope appears to be against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown based on his social media statements.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago, was elected as the first American Pope on Thursday, taking over as the head of state for the 1.41 billion Catholics worldwide.

Known as Pope Leo XIV, the former missionary has been vocal in his criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 30, an undocumented immigrant and father of three from Maryland, was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, which he criticised in his final retweet on April 14.

The post reads, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”

Pope Leo XIV, 69, also shared several articles that address the immigration views of Catholic JD Vance. One of them is titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Pope Leo shared a 2017 statement in support of DACA recipients, who are unauthorised immigrants who were taken to the US as minors by their parents.

Pope Leo also shared a post in 2018 that read: “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.” 

A 2018 letter from Peru’s Catholic leaders thanking the Trump administration for “stopping the separation of migrant children from their parents” was among the messages he published that clearly opposed Trump’s immigration measures.