World US & Canada Politics

Pope names former migrant bishop

Pope names former migrant bishop

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as the new bishop of West Virginia, a state known for its strong support of President Trump.

Menjivar-Ayala, who was smuggled into the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant in 1990, has been a vocal advocate for migrant rights.

The move is widely interpreted as a direct challenge to the Trump administration's mass deportation policies and immigration rhetoric.

The Vatican's decision places a prominent critic of the White House in charge of a diocese in a key political battleground.

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Leo XIV
267th Pope of the Catholic Church (2025–)
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala
Salvadorian Roman-Catholic bishop
West Virginia
State of the United States of America
Donald Trump
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
Catholic Church
Largest Christian Church, made up of 24 autonomous Churches in communion with the Pope, part of the Latin Church aka Latin Christianity aka western Christianity