The exchange was brief, but it was revealing.
When Speaker Mike Johnson was recently asked about Pope Leo’s rhetoric criticizing border enforcement and America’s immigration policies, he didn’t respond with talking points, partisan slogans, or political spin. He responded with Scripture.
Specifically, he cited Romans 13 — a passage that has anchored Christian teaching on civil authority for nearly two thousand years — reminding listeners that government is instituted by God to restrain evil and promote order. In other words: borders matter. Law matters. Order matters. And caring about them is not a betrayal of Christian compassion. It is an expression of it.
That response, reported by Fox News, was thoughtful, grounded, and biblically consistent. And it stands in sharp contrast to much of what passes today for “faith-based” commentary on immigration.
Which brings us, respectfully, to Pope Leo.
As the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide, his words carry enormous moral weight. When he speaks about migrants, borders, and national responsibility, he is not simply offering a private opinion. He is shaping consciences.
And in this case, he should know better.
Christian compassion does not mean open borders.
It never has.
Scripture is clear on two parallel truths that must be held together, not pitted against each other.
First: Human beings are made in God’s image. They deserve dignity. They deserve mercy. They deserve care.
Second: God ordains civil authority to establish boundaries, enforce laws, and restrain chaos.
Both are true. Always.
The Bible does not present compassion and order as opposites. It presents them as partners.
Romans 13 teaches that governing authorities are “God’s servants” tasked with maintaining justice. Proverbs warns that a society without boundaries invites destruction. Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls precisely so that vulnerable people would be protected. Even in the New Testament, cities had gates. Nations had borders.
Communities had structure.
None of this contradicts loving your neighbor.
It enables it.
Speaker Johnson understood this when he answered the question. He didn’t dismiss the suffering of migrants. He didn’t mock the poor. He didn’t harden his heart. He simply refused to pretend that lawlessness is love.
That matters.
Because what we have witnessed over the past several years is not compassion. It is negligence dressed up as virtue.
Millions of people have crossed the southern border illegally. Many have been exploited by cartels. Thousands have been trafficked. Countless women and children have been abused. Communities have been overwhelmed. Schools and hospitals have been strained. Fentanyl has poured in. Criminal networks have expanded.
None of that is compassionate.
None of that reflects Christ.
When leaders insist that enforcing immigration law is somehow “unchristian,” they are not preaching the Gospel.
They are promoting chaos.
Jesus fed the hungry. He healed the sick. He welcomed the outcast.
He also respected authority. He affirmed lawful order. He paid taxes. He told His followers to render unto Caesar what belonged to Caesar.
He never endorsed anarchy.
The modern progressive religious narrative suggests that any restriction on immigration is immoral. That any enforcement is cruel. That any border is sinful.
That narrative is not biblical.
It is political.
And it has done enormous harm.
Speaker Johnson’s response cut through that fog. He reminded the country that Christians are allowed — indeed obligated — to care about both mercy and truth. About both compassion and responsibility.
You can welcome the stranger and still insist that entry be lawful.
You can help the poor and still secure your border.
You can be a Christian and still believe that sovereignty matters.
In fact, you cannot faithfully be one without believing that.
Because disorder always hurts the weakest first.
When borders collapse, it is not wealthy elites who suffer. It is the poor. The exploited. The trafficked. The forgotten. The children.
When governments abdicate responsibility, predators fill the vacuum.
That is exactly what has happened.
So when Pope Leo frames enforcement as moral failure, he unintentionally sides with systems that profit from misery.
He undermines the very people he claims to defend.
I do not write this to attack him.
I write it to urge him — respectfully — to do better.
To speak with theological precision.
To reflect the full counsel of Scripture.
To resist the temptation to baptize political ideology with religious language.
Christianity is not a talking point factory.
It is a truth tradition.
It teaches that every person matters. And that order matters.
And that justice matters. And that responsibility matters.
Speaker Johnson honored that tradition.
He didn’t posture. He didn’t pander. He didn’t perform.
He answered like a Christian who has actually read his Bible.
In an age when so many leaders confuse sentimentality with virtue, that is refreshing.
And necessary.
We need more voices willing to say what Scripture actually says, even when it is inconvenient.
We need fewer sermons built on feelings and more built on truth.
We need compassion anchored in wisdom.
And we need church leaders who remember that moral clarity is not cruelty.
It is love.
So to Pope Leo, with respect: do better.
Not louder.
Not softer.
Better.
Better grounded.
Better informed.
Better aligned with the Word you are called to defend.
And to Speaker Johnson: thank you for reminding the country that faith and facts still belong in the same sentence.
In times like these, that takes courage.
And conviction.
Both are in short supply.
Both are desperately needed.