VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV met Tuesday (Oct. 7) with a group of U.S. Latino Catholics who are working to help immigrants threatened by President Donald Trump’s deportation policies, telling them that they are not alone and that their job is now more important than ever.
“You have in your hands a very great task, which is to accompany the people who truly and profoundly need a sign that God never abandons anyone: not the smallest, not the poorest, not the foreigner, not anyone,” Leo said in Spanish in his brief remarks to the delegation from the National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry.
The group of 100 pilgrims, representing almost 60 U.S. dioceses in the United States, came to Rome this week to pray for the communities they serve during the Jubilees of Missions and Migrants. They said they were surprised when Leo, the first American to head the Catholic Church, called them to a private audience, which took place in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, where popes customarily greet heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
“You, in the service you offer in your ministry, are clearly that testimony that is so important, perhaps especially in the United States, but throughout the whole world — a world that suffers so much from war, from violence and from hatred,” Leo said, according to a recording provided by NCCHM.
“Thank you for all that you do,” he added, concluding with an encouragement for their work before praying the Our Father. He then greeted every participant individually.
Elisabeth Román. (Photo courtesy of NCCHM)
“He treated us like dignitaries. He sent a message by having us there. He lifted us,” said Elisabeth Román, NCCHM’s president, speaking to Religion News Service immediately after the encounter with the pope. “He knows what we’re going through. If anyone knows, it’s our pope from the U.S. and Latin America!” she added.
In response to a request for comment on the pope’s meeting, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump was elected as the President of the United States based on the many promises he made to the American people, including his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens. He is keeping his promise to the American people.”
In a separate meeting on Wednesdsay (Oct. 8), the pope met with two U.S. bishops, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, who is also chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino of the same diocese. There were also representatives of the immigrants community and social workers from the U.S.-Mexico border, who handed Leo letters from immigrants and showed him a video about their experiences.
Great honor today for our group from El Paso (@HopeBorder and @elpasodiocese) to meet with the Holy Father (@Pontifex) and be able to bring with us the stories and fears of our immigrant sisters and brothers from across our country. pic.twitter.com/bOBjkOgIW6
— Bishop Mark J. Seitz (@BishopSeitz) October 8, 2025
One of the Latino Catholics who met with the pope on Tuesday, Andrew Mercado, director of university ministry at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, which is overwhelmingly Latino, brought the pope a stack of letters from students describing what they experience in their neighborhoods in Chicago, Leo’s hometown.
“In my context, Catholic higher education, we know what we’re seeing, we know what we’re experiencing. We know the stories that we have heard these last couple months, and so we are kind of offering that up here as a place of strength, but also a place of sorts to continue the work,” Mercado said.
Another pilgrim, Bertha Melendres, helps Latino migrants get legal services, English classes and basic necessities as director for Hispanic ministry in the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana. “It’s personal for me, you know, I am a migrant. I came when I was 11 years old,” she said, adding that being at the Vatican, where many Catholics facing persecution found their death in the early days of Christianity, gives her courage to face today’s challenges.
Melendres vowed to bring the pope’s words of encouragement to the community she serves. “Honestly, I needed to hear them myself,” she said. “It’s hard, but I want to share with (my community) that there’s hope and that there’s got to be a way, you know, and God’s never going to forget about them, and he’s going to take care of them one way or another.”
The Rev. Edmundo Sara Pesarres, a priest at the St. Jude Shrine of the West in the Diocese of San Diego, not far from the border, serves a majority immigrant flock. With a local interfaith initiative called FAITH, Sara Pesarres works with lay experts to accompany migrants to court and in encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We are there with a rosary in our hands, praying for them, to accompany them, to remind them that God is with them,” he said.
The pope “is an immigrant like us,” said the priest, referring to Leo’s decision to become a Peruvian citizen after years of missionary work. “He understands our experience. He understands español. And not only that, he understands us. For him to have that voice means that everyone, particularly for us in America, is listening to him.”
The members of the group, many with tears in their eyes, left the papal audience vowing to double their efforts with the support of the pope. Eva Gonzalez, director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, said the meeting gives hope to a community that lives in fear.
Rosa Bonilla, who serves in the Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles, marveled at the mixture of affection and strength she saw in Leo during their brief meeting. “What I gathered from this meeting is that we are not alone and that we feel that he is accompanying and walking with us,” Bonilla said.
