Evelio Menjivar-Ayala speaking during a recent Festival of Faiths conference.
Pope Leo has appointed a former illegal alien to lead the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia.
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, is a former illegal alien who entered the United States as a teenager after being smuggled into the country.
He later obtained legal status and became a U.S. citizen in 2006.
He had been serving as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Washington and will replace retiring Bishop Mark Brennan.
Menjivar-Ayala has publicly criticized the Trump administration’s policy of mass deportations and is well known for his progressive posturing.
In a recent column, he wrote: “To those of you who are silent or think this does not involve you… I ask you: Do you not see the suffering of your neighbors?”
The Vatican announced the appointment alongside other promotions, including Rev. Robert Boxie III, who was named an auxiliary bishop in Washington.
Boxie has strongly defended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, which have become defacto illegal under the trump administration.
“It’s really frustrating… The attacks on ‘DEI’ — I don’t even know what that means anymore,” Boxie said. “Diversity is a good thing. Diversity is of God.”
Menjivar-Ayala previously worked manual labor jobs in the U.S. before entering the priesthood. His immigration status was later resolved with assistance from church officials.
The move places Menjivar-Ayala in charge of a diocese located in one of the most conservative states in the country.
The appointment also places Pope Leo further at odds with President Trump, who recently criticized his progressive pandering.
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart.
I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!
I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.
Leo later responded by suggesting that Trump does not understand the deeper meaning behind the gospel.
Pope Leo just FIRED BACK at President Trump:
“To put my message on the same plane as what the President has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is.”
Video: Associated Press https://t.co/n5NfboQFhG pic.twitter.com/mObl8jD77C
— Morse Report (@MorseReport) April 13, 2026
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