Pope Leo Affirms Nations Can Control Their Borders

In a refreshing moment of clarity from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV rejected the progressive fantasy that nations must keep their borders wide open. Speaking outside his summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope acknowledged the right of sovereign nations to regulate immigration, stating plainly: “No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.”

That statement comes in response to a recent message from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who sought to strike a balance between moral obligation and national sovereignty. Their “special pastoral message on immigration” affirmed two key principles:

• Immigrants, like all people, are made in the image of God and deserve human dignity.

• Nations have both the right and the duty to control their borders for the common good.

While the bishops urged compassion for long-term residents and criticized dehumanizing rhetoric, they also opposed mass deportations and reckless language from either side of the political aisle. But the message was clear: open borders are not a Catholic mandate.

Pope Leo backed their position, emphasizing the need for a just legal system and the proper treatment of all people, without erasing the rule of law. “There are ways to treat that,” he said of illegal immigration. “There are courts. There is a system of justice.” He acknowledged flaws in that system, but strongly reinforced that countries must have the ability to protect themselves and their citizens.

This flies directly in the face of the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies, which have led to a record-breaking 2.4 million migrant encounters in 2023 alone, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The resulting chaos has overwhelmed cities, drained public resources, and opened the door to over 169 suspected terrorists caught at the border in the last year a sharp rise from prior administrations.

Groups like CatholicVote applauded Pope Leo’s statement, praising it as a “concise restatement of Catholic teaching” that respects both the dignity of the immigrant and the sovereignty of the nation. Their accompanying essay put it bluntly: a faithful Catholic can support strong enforcement mechanisms including physical barriers, detention, and deportation without betraying Church doctrine.

That’s a message many on the left, including some American bishops, would rather ignore. Under the current Democratic leadership, compassion has been weaponized into a justification for lawlessness, leaving working-class communities to pick up the tab for Washington’s negligence.

Pope Leo’s remarks provide moral clarity at a time when political leaders particularly those in the Biden White House seem completely uninterested in protecting our borders or our citizens. It’s a reminder that real compassion must be grounded in law, order, and truth not virtue-signaling.

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