Pope appoints onetime illegal immigrant as new head of West Virginia diocese

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a notable figure to a key position, naming Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, a former undocumented migrant, as the bishop of West Virginia, just weeks after a highly publicized dispute with US President Donald Trump.

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This move comes as the Pope, who leads the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, has been openly critical of Trump's stance on immigration and the Middle East conflict, sparking a significant amount of tension between the two leaders.

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The Vatican's announcement revealed that Menjivar-Ayala, a 55-year-old auxiliary bishop in Washington, will now oversee the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia, a state marked by poverty and mountainous terrain.

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According to his biography on the Washington diocese website, Menjivar-Ayala was born in El Salvador and migrated to the United States in 1990, bringing with him a personal experience of poverty and conflict that has shaped his perspective.

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In past interviews, Menjivar-Ayala has spoken candidly about his journey, including being detained in Mexico and later paying a bribe to cross the border at Tijuana, highlighting the complexities of his path to the United States.

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Menjivar-Ayala's language skills are notable, as he is fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, and his career in the clergy has been marked by significant milestones, including his ordination as a priest in 2004 and his elevation to bishop in 2023.

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The clash between Trump and Pope Leo XIV centers on US immigration enforcement and the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, with the two leaders holding fundamentally different views on these critical issues.

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Last month, Pope Leo XIV condemned Trump's threat to destroy Iran as "unacceptable" and urged Americans to push their lawmakers to "work for peace," prompting a scathing response from the US president on social media.

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Trump's criticism of the Pope was harsh, labeling him "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy" and stating that he does not support a pope who seems to condone Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

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During his campaign for the White House, Trump vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, a pledge that has been met with criticism from top US Catholic leaders who have expressed concern over the nationwide crackdown.

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Pope Leo XIV has been vocal about the treatment of migrants in the United States, describing it as "extremely disrespectful" and emphasizing the need for humane treatment, a stance that has put him at odds with the Trump administration.

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Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has also expressed concern over the "current climate of fear and polarization" in the United States, reflecting the broader tensions between the Catholic Church and the current US administration.

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Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, a key ally of the Pope, has urged Americans to contact their members of Congress and oppose renewed funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which has been at the forefront of the migrant crackdown.