Fact Check: Did Pope Leo say Donald Trump’s immigration policies trampled on 'teachings of the church'?

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN: Pope Francis' successor, Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken on the papal name Pope Leo XIV, made history as he became the first American-born pope. Since the appointment, Pope Leo’s old social media posts criticizing the Trump administration have resurfaced.

Recently, a rumor circulated online claiming that the pope said President Donald Trump's immigration policies trampled on the 'teachings of the church'. But is there any truth to this? Let's find out below.

Claim: Pope Leo said Donald Trump's immigration policies trampled on 'teachings of the church'

In May 2025, a video went viral on social media that purported to show Pope Leo XIV criticizing Donald Trump's immigration policies.

The video originated on TikTok and went viral across other social media platforms such as X, Facebook, and Instagram.

The video shows the pope reading from a page as the voice reads, "Trump, the immigration policies you've implemented are a blatant trampling on both the teachings of the church and the promises of the American dream."

"You've made a big show of declaring a state of emergency at the border, dispatched the military to enforce the law there, canceled birthright citizenship, and even had law enforcement officers barge into places like churches and schools, which are supposed to be inviolable to arrest illegal immigrants," the voice added.

Further in the clip, the pope is heard saying, " All of your actions are a hideous manifestation of white supremacist ideology. What's more, the incident of you accepting an airplane from the cartel is truly despicable. Such behavior of yours has seriously damaged the image of public officials. You're simply using your power as a tool to seek personal gains."

The video concludes as the pope is heard saying, "I, Robert Prevost, firmly oppose everything that you stand for. Every single thing you've done is dragging the United States into the abyss of darkness and undermining the very foundation of this country. You must take responsibility for your actions and the American people."

False: Pope Leo XIV did not make any such statement about Donald Trump

The claims made in the viral video are false, as the video was made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, according to Snopes.

Moreover, the video showed the pope with an accent he does not have in real life and altered the lip-syncing, causing it to move in unrealistic ways, per the fact-checking outlet.

Furthermore, the speech in the viral video was in English, which was an unusually long statement from a pope, as most papal speeches are in Italian.

Searches on search engines, such as Google and Bing, also did not show any result of Pope Leo XIV making any such statement about Trump's immigration policies.

Pope Leo XIV's past criticism of Donald Trump

After Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected the new pope, his past criticism of Donald Trump and his administration resurfaced online.

The 69-year-old recently retweeted a post criticizing the POTUS administration's deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to an El Salvador prison.

"As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laughing crying emoji] Feds' illicit deportation of a US resident, once an undoc-ed Salvadoran himself, no-DC Aux+Evelio asks, 'Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscious not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?," the tweet read.

The post also had a link to an article from the website Catholic Standard that compared the plights and persecutions faced by immigrant and refugee communities to the Passion of Jesus Christ, according to Rolling Stone.