MIAMI SHORES, FLA. (WSVN) - With President Trump increasingly at odds with the Pope over various administration decisions, the Trump administration is escalating the war of words with new action that slashes funding for Catholic charities in South Florida.
The funds support the management of shelters and foster care for migrant children.
The administration’s decision has prompted backlash from Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who called it abrupt and baffling.
The over six-decade partnership between the U.S. government and the Archdiocese of Miami started during Operation Pedro Pan, which helped care for children sent to the U.S. alone from Cuba after Cuban leader Fidel Castro took over the island nation.
In an opinion piece for the Miami Herald written by Wenski, he said: “The Archdiocese of Miami’s Catholic Charities Services for unaccompanied minors has been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months.”
This latest action comes as tensions between the Catholic Church and the White House have heightened. Pope Leo criticized the U.S. policy on Iran, and Trump hit back, calling Leo weak.
“Too many innocent people are being killed and I think someone has to stand up and say, ‘There’s a better way to do this,'” said Leo.
“We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope who says crime is OK in our cities. I don’t like it. I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” said Trump.
As of Wednesday, Wenski said, Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village can house 81 children and helps place them in foster care, provides psychological care, and reunites them with family members.
While Wenski has acknowledged that the number of unaccompanied children entering the U.S. has decreased since the start of the Trump administration, he still said it will be a hard hit on the Church to remove the funding.
“Given the history and reputation of the Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children’s Village, it is baffling that the U.S. government would shut down a program that it would be hard-pressed to replicate at the level of competence and excellence that Catholic Charities has achieved if and when future waves of unaccompanied minors reach our shores,” he writes.
Wenski urged the administration to review its decision.
“[The Office of Refugee Resettlement] is pledged to act in the best interest of the child. This alone should call for a review of the decision to shut down this legacy and signature program,” he writes.
It’s unclear what the Church will do with its minor migrant housing once the program’s funding lapses.
Wenski, along with leadership from Catholic Charities and the Pedro Pan Board of Directors, will hold a news conference on this issue on Thursday afternoon.
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