Pope Leo has escalated his quiet but growing feud with the Trump administration, instructing U.S. bishops to take a stronger public stand against the president’s hardline immigration policies, according to Reuters.

Meeting a delegation of bishops and social workers from the U.S.-Mexico border at the Vatican on Wednesday, the first American-born pope urged them to “speak strongly” on behalf of migrants and refugees affected by Trump’s deportation drive.

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, who attended the meeting, said Leo, who was born and raised in Chicago, was visibly moved after being handed dozens of letters from immigrants describing their fears of arrest and separation under the administration’s enforcement policies.

“Our Holy Father is very personally concerned about these matters,” Seitz

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