Illinois Governor Pritzker meets with Pope Leo XIV to discuss Trump’s ICE raids
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker meets with Pope Leo XIV
Democratic Illinois Gov. Jay Robert “JB” Pritzker met with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, a native of the land of Lincoln, at the Vatican this week. (Credit: Reuters – No Use Fox Weather/Outkick)
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker secured a meeting with fellow Pope Leo XIV, where the two exchanged gifts and discussed their collective criticism of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” law enforcement mission.
“Pope Leo
Pritzker and Liu reportedly discussed their reservations about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in Illinois and Chicago, specifically, with the governor saying the pope agreed with his sense of pride that “the people of Chicago stood up against the oppression of immigrants.”
Pritzker said Chicago’s NBC affiliate That the Pope has strong feelings about ICE’s activities, and that the Pope wanted to hear Pritzker’s views and ask questions about the case of the Midway Blitz.
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Pope Leo XIV greets Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker at the Vatican, Vatican City. (Simone Rizzolotti/Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters)
Liu was reportedly relieved to be told that the process appeared to be ending in Chicago, according to Pritzker’s comments.
Earlier this month, a group of U.S. bishops issued a statement backed by Liu in which they criticized some ICE operations — including mass deportations — and spoke of general concerns about the missions.
The statement from Baltimore — which was approved by a vote of 216 to 5, with three clergy abstaining — reads in part that the bishops are “bound to our people by the bonds of communion and mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ.” [and] “We are disturbed to see a climate of fear and anxiety among our people regarding issues of profiling and immigration enforcement.”
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Liu also questioned whether people who oppose abortion but agree with the “inhumane treatment of immigrants in the United States” could be considered “pro-life.”
“If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to deal with that. There are courts, there is a justice system,” he told the Italian press at the time, adding that leaders must find ways to treat people with dignity while enforcing the law.
But he added that every country has the right to determine immigration procedures and laws.
Pope Leo
“No one said the United States should have open borders,” said Liu, whose real name is Robert Prevost.
“You can feel it,” Pritzker said of his audience [the pope’s] “Humanity.”
“It was a special moment, even for this Jewish boy,” he said.
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The governor also invited Leo to visit Chicago and presented him with a can of “Da Pope” beer from the local Illinois brewery Burning Bush.
The Pope said sarcastically as he smiled at the gift: “We will put it in the refrigerator.”
The last papal visit to Chicago was in 1979 when John Paul II held an audience in Grant Park, according to Capitol News Illinois.