Pope Leo XIV has sharply criticised the global treatment of migrants and refugees, saying that people fleeing poverty and violence are too often regarded as worth less than household animals. "They are human beings, and we have to treat human beings in a humanitarian way and not treat them worse than house pets or animals," the pope told journalists during a press conference aboard the papal plane on Thursday, as he returned to Rome following an 11-day, four-nation tour of Africa that took him through Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.
The pope, who is the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to come from the United States, did not name any specific country in his remarks. Nevertheless, the comments arrive in the context of a sustained and increasingly public dispute between Leo and US President Donald Trump over immigration and the recent US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. Leo has previously questioned whether the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement is consistent with the Catholic Church's pro-life teachings — remarks that drew fierce criticism from conservative American Catholics. Trump, for his part, has attacked Leo on social media, calling him "terrible" and accusing him of being soft on crime and disastrous on foreign policy.
Beyond condemning the treatment of migrants, Leo pushed for structural change, calling on wealthier nations to invest in the development of the countries from which people are fleeing. "What are richer countries doing to change the situation for poorer countries?" he asked. "And why can't we seek to change the situations in those countries?" He acknowledged that states have a legitimate right to control their borders, but argued that the root causes of migration demand an international response.
The pope also addressed the conflict in Iran, condemning what he described as the killing of protesters and urging both the United States and Iran to return to negotiations. He told reporters he carries a photograph of a young Lebanese Muslim boy who was killed during the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah — a child who had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope during a visit to Lebanon last year. "As a pastor of the church, I cannot endorse war," Leo said. He also defended his decision to visit countries led by long-standing authoritarian governments, noting that the Vatican maintains diplomatic ties with many such states and conducts extensive behind-the-scenes advocacy for justice.
The broader significance of Leo's remarks lies in the rare spectacle of a sitting pope in open and repeated disagreement with an American president, as well as in his insistence that the moral weight of migration cannot be reduced to questions of border security alone. By framing the treatment of migrants as a fundamental human dignity issue — and linking it to a call for global economic development — Leo is staking out a position that challenges both the politics of the moment and the longer-term economic arrangements that drive displacement worldwide.