Pope Leo XIV on Friday appointed a former undocumented immigrant as bishop of a diocese in the United States, after criticizing the war launched against Iran and Donald Trump's immigration policy.

The Vatican announced in a statement the appointment of Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, currently auxiliary bishop in Washington, bishop of the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, in West Virginia (east).

Originally from El Salvador, Evelio Menjivar-Ayala emigrated to the United States in 1990, according to the website of the Diocese of Washington. He recounted being born into poverty and fleeing the armed conflict in his country by emigrating illegally to the United States.

Initially arrested in Mexico while attempting to enter the United States, he said in an interview last year that he paid a bribe to be released and crossed the border into Tijuana.

He was ordained a priest in 2004, then a bishop in 2023.

Leo XIV, the first American pope, faced criticism in April from Donald Trump – who called him "weak" – after the pontiff described his threat to destroy Iran as "unacceptable".

He also denounced the US president's "extremely disrespectful" policy towards immigrants, calling for "people to be treated humanely".

When he was still a bishop and later a cardinal, the future pope, Robert Prevost, had shared on his X account posts criticizing Donald Trump and his vice president JD Vance, particularly for their positions towards immigrants.

His last message on X, in April 2025, referred to a text by Bishop Menjivar-Ayala, denouncing the Trump administration's policy of mass expulsions.

Several leaders of the American Catholic Church have recently criticized this policy, particularly after the deaths of two protesters demonstrating against federal immigration police (ICE), Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot by federal agents in January in Minneapolis (north).

At the end of January, an American cardinal close to the Pope, Joseph Tobin, called on the faithful to put pressure on their elected officials to refuse to vote for the ICE budget, which he described as an organization "without faith or law".

Donald Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration an absolute priority, referring to an "invasion" of the United States by "criminals from abroad" and communicating extensively about the deportations of immigrants.

But his program of mass evictions has been thwarted or slowed down by multiple court decisions, notably on the grounds that the people targeted must be able to assert their rights.

AFP