Pope appoints former undocumented migrant as US bishop

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a former undocumented migrant as bishop in the United States, the Vatican announced Saturday, in a move widely seen as a signal of support for migrants amid strict US border policies.

Evelio Menjivaras-Ayala, a 55-year-old priest from El Salvador, will serve as bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston diocese in West Virginia, LRT reports. In 1990, at age 20, Menjivaras-Ayala entered the US illegally by hiding in a car trunk to cross the Mexico-US border during his country’s civil war. In recent years, he has served as an auxiliary bishop in Washington, DC.

The appointment comes as the US administration under President Donald Trump maintains a hardline stance on migration, particularly from Central and South America. Pope Leo XIV, the first US-born leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has repeatedly criticized such policies, advocating instead for a more humane approach to refugees.

Trump has previously accused the pope of meddling in politics, claiming last month that Leo XIV’s papacy was only possible because of his own election. The president also faced backlash for sharing an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus, which he later removed.

The Catholic Church counts approximately 1.4 billion followers worldwide.