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Pope Leo calls out hypocrisy, saying 'inhuman treatment of immigrants' isn't 'pro-life'

Pro-life means a lot more than just being against abortion.

via Edgar Beltran/Wikimedia Commons and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Wikimedia Commons

Pope Leo XIV and an ICE officer arresting an immigrant.

The first American pope, Leo XIV, has weighed in on U.S. politics with a statement that cuts across partisan lines, drawing criticism from the White House. On Tuesday, October 1, reporters asked Leo XIV about plans by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich to bestow a lifetime achievement award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for decades of serving immigrants. Some conservative U.S. bishops balked at the idea, given Durbin’s long-time support of abortion rights.

The Catholic Church has a long history of supporting immigrants and being pro-life, so the Pope noted that those on both sides of the Durbin issue were being hypocritical.

The Pope explains what 'pro-life' really means

"Someone who says 'I'm against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty' is not really pro-life," Leo said. "Someone who says that 'I'm against abortion, but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life."

"I don't know if anyone has all the truth on them but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need you to now really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward in this church. Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear," he continued.

The Pope’s statement was an explicit critique of America’s conservative politicians and Supreme Court justices who wear the pro-life mantle when it applies to abortion, but support harsh immigration policies and the death penalty. The Catholic Church’s support for immigrants is deeply rooted in the teachings of the Holy Bible, which has over two dozen verses that reference why strangers and foreigners should be treated with care, dignity, and equality.

The Trump Administration's aggressive approach to immigrants—both undocumented and legal—has been one of the most controversial aspects of his presidency. Although he initially received praise for his handling of issues at the U.S.-Mexico border, his treatment of domestic immigrants through ICE raids, deportations to foreign prisons, and demonizing rhetoric is unpopular with a majority of Americans.

The Pope’s statement received a rebuke from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a devout Catholic. "I would reject there is inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration," Leavitt told White House reporters. "There was, however, significant, inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the previous administration as they were being trafficked, raped, and beaten, in many cases killed over our United States southern border."

On a deeper level, the Pope’s statement exposes how many Americans are forced to reconcile their spiritual and political beliefs on significant issues such as abortion, the death penalty, and immigration. The interesting thing is that studies show that whether there is a conflict between their political party and the church, people tend to hold their political beliefs more closely. Ultimately, in calling for conscience over partisanship, the Pope asks Americans to embrace a higher calling by embracing humanity over partisanship.

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He used to carry out the death penalty. This is why he totally changed his mind.

Semon Frank Thompson filled a syringe with water, knowing — if this weren't just a job training — he'd be moments away from killing someone.

"I can remember this feeling," he explains of his time working in an Oregon prison. "Like, this just doesn’t make sense.”

At the time, Thompson believed in the death penalty. As a young black man growing up in the segregated South, he remembered the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered at the hands of white supremacists for daring to flirt with a white woman.

Thompson, like many in his community, wanted justice for Till's killers. And capital punishment seemed like the only way to achieve it.

A photo of Emmett Till on the plaque that marks his grave in Illinois. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Years later — as the superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary, filling up that syringe during a training session on lethal injection — Thompson found himself in charge of death.

Administering death sentences was part of his job description.

As superintendent, Thompson was trained to carry out capital punishment at the facility. In his time there, he only carried out two death sentences, but it was enough to change his mind about the procedure forever.

For Thompson, abolishing the death penalty isn't just the moral thing to do — it will prevent further injustice from unfolding.

Most people on death row have done horrific things and committed unspeakable crimes. But to Thompson, who now travels across the country speaking out against the death penalty from his unique perspective, capital punishment fails to make our communities any safer. And evidence backs him up.

Research has yet to find any substantial data suggesting the death penalty deters crime, a 2014 report from The Washington Post noted. In fact, violent crime has generally fallen since 1990, even as more states have implemented bans and placed moratoriums on the death penalty.

On the other hand, the death penalty has certainly taken innocent lives. In the U.S., more than 150 people have been exonerated while on death row since 1976. In that time, a staggering 1,400 people have been executed. It makes you wonder: How many people of those 1,400 were innocent?

“There’s a surreal feeling about sitting down and looking at a human being and talking to them about what I plan to do to them," he said. "I realized that I — at my very, very core — felt that the death penalty was wrong.”

Watch Thompson's story about how his time working at the Oregon State Penitentiary inspired him to devote his life to saving others':

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These 11 powerful photos offer a glimpse of life on death row.

It's been 10 years since California's last execution. But death row continues to grow.

What began in 1852 as 20 acres of seaside land purchased for $10,000 is now known as San Quentin State Prison.

Today, the prison covers 432 acres, and it houses over 4,000 men, including hundreds of men who are on death row.

Visitors arrive at San Quentin State Prison in 2015. All photos by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

At San Quentin, nearly 700 men live on death row.

It's the only correctional facility in California for condemned men. But there's a problem: There hasn't been an execution at San Quentin since 2006. That means that those hundreds of men are waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for their death sentences to be carried out — and some have been waiting for more than 10 years.

Why the wait? Legal challenges surrounding the cocktail of drugs used during lethal injections have put executions on hold. In November 2016, California voters will decide whether to eliminate the death penalty entirely or, at the very least, expedite the process. But until then, these men's futures hang in flux.

Regardless of where you stand on capital punishment, the current prison system is inarguably flawed.

While prison should remain a punishment, especially for the most dangerous offenders, keeping a future in the balance for literally decades at a time is borderline inhumane. The condemned inmates live in single cells, with limited access to fresh air or mental enrichment.

These photos reveal just what it looks like to spend your days trapped in an outdated facility, within a broken system, where your only options are to wait and wonder.

1.  Little has changed in San Quentin's East Block — where condemned inmates are held — since it was built in 1930.

2. Nothing is automated. Each cell is opened and closed by hand.

3. Unlike inmates in the general population, where men are kept two to a cell and have access to enrichment programs, inmates on death row spend most of their days alone.

4. If you think it's lonely and isolating, you're right.

4.  In their single cells, some write or draw.

5. Others study or read to pass the time.

6. Outside time is limited to four days a week, when inmates get access to an exercise yard.

7. There, they can workout.

8. Or pace.

9. Or just think.

10. There's always plenty of time for that.

11. After all, waiting is what they're on death row to do. The question is — for how long?

A Mickey Mouse clock marks the time, along with a little graffiti from someone with a cruel and unusual sense of humor.

And this isn't just California's problem — it's a problem everywhere.

Between sentencing and execution, inmates on death row can wait an average of 190 months. That's up from 74 months in 1984.

It's clear our corrections system wasn't built for this — unduly cruel sentences of indeterminate length in prisons more than a century old. Surely there's a way to get justice for victims and punish perpetrators without sacrificing our own humanity.

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12 photos of what death row inmates requested for their last meals.

If you had just one day left on Earth, what would your last meal be?

Henry Hargreaves photographed what death row prisoners in America requested as their last meal in his "No Seconds" series, saying that his main goal was "to have the viewer identify with the prisoner though their meal request. I wanted the viewer to think of them as a person for a moment instead of them being anonymous."

It's interesting that Henry's photography project doesn't make a judgment of the prisoner's crime, but rather humanizes the individual with a subtle glimpse of the prisoner's character and personality.

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