(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte met with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, sharing that he thanked the pontiff for his messages on behalf of illegal immigrants.
Martin is known for having suppressed four Traditional Latin Masses this year and merged them into a chapel purposely too small to fit all the Latin Mass-goers, as well for requesting that altar rails no longer be used in the diocese and desiring to restrict other traditional liturgical practices, according to a leaked letter.
During his brief time with Leo at the pope’s general audience, Martin said he “thanked him for the messaging that he’s so clearly offered on behalf of migrants in our area who are in so much distress and experiencing so much anxiety these days,” the Catholic News Herald reported.
“No care about the mass deportation of the traditional faithful!” remarked John-Henry Westen, Editor-in-Chief of LifeSiteNews.
JUST IN: Bp. Michael Martin, who cruelly banished Charlotte’s Latin Mass community to a church intentionally too small, yesterday met Pope Leo XIV and thanked him for his ‘clear message’ defending distressed migrants.
No care about the mass deportation of the traditional… pic.twitter.com/5VxNVB2MgO
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) November 20, 2025
Bishop Martin also reportedly told the pope “how much the people of western North Carolina are praying for him and supportive of his ministry.”
While Martin has taken aim at the traditional Mass and a posture of reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, he has opposed, along with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the “indiscriminate mass deportation” of illegal immigrants.
The bishop is so opposed to the deportation of illegal immigrants, that he believes their immunity from deportation may take precedent over their attendance at Mass. On Tuesday, he issued a Mass dispensation to those “afraid” to attend due to the possibility of being deported.
“To those of you who are afraid to come to church, you are not obligated to attend Mass when you are inhibited from doing so by circumstances beyond your control, as the Church has always taught,” wrote Martin in a message calling for “prayer and fasting” “in solidarity with all migrants around the world.”
Leo himself expressed strong support for the USCCB’s recent statement on immigration while repeating his disapproval, at least indirectly, of the Trump administration’s deportation policies.
“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who, and how, and when people enter,” the pope told reporters. “But when people are living good lives – and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years – to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence unfortunately.”
President Trump’s immigration czar, Tom Homan, fired back at U.S. Catholic bishops after they issued this “special pastoral letter” on deportation.
“I’m a lifelong Catholic, but I’m saying it not only as a border czar, but I’m also saying this as a Catholic, I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church,” he said.
“According to them,” Homan added, “the message to the world is: if you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it.”
