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Pope Leo 'very much sent a message' with latest move in feud with Trump: NYT reporter
May 1, 2026
Posted 1 hour ago by
Pope Leo wants President Donald Trump to embrace everyone and said so with his decision to send a one-time undocumented immigrant to serve as the bishop to lead Catholics in West Virginia, a journalist argued. The pope is very much sending a message, said New York Times journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro during an appearance on CNN on Friday. The message is of universality, right? That it doesn't matter your skin color.
It doesn't matter your story. The church embraces all of that. Pope Leo appointed Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, born in El Salvador, as the new bishop of a diocese that covers all of West Virginia on May 1. By moving someone like this to a very white state, he is indeed sending a message, Garcia-Navarro argued. She compared bishops to a cabinet for the pope, and immigration is an issue that the church feels very strongly about, she stressed. It is part of their canon, Garcia-Navarro said. That is not a left or right issue. That is a Catholic church issue. Catholic charities have always been involved on immigration. She also pointed out that at the southern border, many migrants trying to come into the United States are Catholic and rely on those charities. You go to the border, they're the people that are actually dealing with the migrants, Garcia-Navarro said. Nuns and priests, et cetera. So this is part of, I think, a refocus that he is doing in the church.
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