As the U.S. Catholic bishops gather in Baltimore this week for their annual fall meeting, the specter of newly elected President Donald Trump’s resounding victory will hang over the proceedings.
The new Trump administration offers promise and danger to key policy interests of U.S. Catholic leaders, including abortion and immigration.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated Trump on his victory in a statement, while emphasizing that the Catholic Church is “not aligned with any political party.”
Catholic education prioritizes both the end of abortion and the humane care of migrants. In Trump, Catholics, as with many American Christians, find an imperfect standard-bearer.
His anti-abortion rhetoric has been mixed: While Trump has taken credit for the end of federal abortion rights, he has disputed the concept of a national abortion ban and said abortion policy should be left to the states to decide.
On immigration, he paints a less optimistic picture for Catholic prelates. Trump has campaigned three times on tough immigration policies and promised to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on migration, said, “We are very concerned about the impact of all this,” referring to Trump’s expected immigration measures.
Catholic and faith-based organizations have long done the bulk of the care for migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. For the migrants in his border diocese who are fleeing violence or facing deportation, Seitz said, “We hear the fear they live with every day.”
Seitz said the church calls for an orderly, legal immigration system in which migrants are vetted and “those fleeing unlivable situations can enter and those who need to work in our country can obtain visas.”
Seitz will present a plan to his fellow bishops this week to educate people in parishes about the plight of migrants.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who is also a member of the bishops’ migration committee, sounded a note of “cautious optimism” about a second Trump term, believing that the reality of migrants’ contributions to the U.S. economy will become more important are then the “hyperbole”. about mass deportations.
“If he wants to achieve ‘the greatest economy ever,’ he will have to work on some form of accommodation on immigration issues,” said Wenski, who has also worked closely with migrant and refugee communities.
On abortion and other issues, Wenski said the Biden administration had at times given people of faith “heartburn over policy decisions that appeared to infringe on religious freedom.”
Wenski was relieved that Florida’s abortion rights amendment failed: It received 57% support when it needed 60% to pass. But he predicted that there is “a long road ahead of us in promoting a culture of life.”
The bishops emphasize in their voting guide that the fight against abortion is “our top priority”.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, told Catholic broadcaster EWTN last week that his committee will discuss the election results, particularly the state ballot initiatives that have seen the anti-abortion movement have a losing record has.
“We will not always be victorious, but I commend and thank the bishops and the faithful in all those states who faced this challenge,” Burbidge said. “Even if we lose, we are not defeated.”
For anti-abortion Catholics like Charles Camosy, a professor of bioethics at Creighton University School of Medicine, neither American political party feels like home. While Vice President Kamala Harris resolutely defended abortion rights, Trump is not an anti-abortion fighter in his eyes either.
Camosy cited Trump’s statement that he is “great for women and their reproductive rights,” as well as his support for IVF and state autonomy on abortion. “In my opinion, that is a pro-choice position,” Camosy said.
Camosy is cautiously optimistic that the new vice president, J.D. Vance, could better represent “the fullness of Catholic doctrine.” Vance, a Catholic convert, is part of the church’s growing traditionalist wing.
In this election, Trump strengthened his support among Catholics compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 120,000 voters.
Catholics generally broke for Trump — 54% supported him and 44% supported Harris — but there was a racial divide. About 6 in 10 white Catholics supported Trump, and about 4 in 10 supported Harris. In contrast, about 6 in 10 Latino Catholics supported Harris, and about 4 in 10 supported Trump.
In Baltimore, the bishops’ meeting will go beyond electoral politics to include drier, bureaucratic matters such as annual budget approval and “three action items related to liturgical texts.” The meeting will discuss the latest synod meeting in Rome, part of a process to reform the church launched by Pope Francis, whose leadership has at times clashed with the right-wing US Catholic hierarchy.
From his post along the U.S.-Mexico border, Bishop Seitz said the church will continue to work within U.S. laws while advocating for changes to laws it finds unjust.
Two days after the election, Seitz took part in a prayer service for migrants. The next morning, he helped deliver water in the desert for migrants crossing dangerous terrain.
Regardless of who is in office, he said, “We as a church will continue to do what the church does.”
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AP reporter Giovanna Dell’Orto contributed to this report.
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