Why Did the Pope Appoint an Illegal Alien as an American Bishop?

In this The American Spectator article, S.A. McCarthy questions Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala to lead the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia, arguing that the move creates a glaring contradiction with the pope’s stated support for national sovereignty and orderly borders.

• The article frames Pope Leo XIV as a corrective figure after the Francis pontificate but argues that this appointment muddies his otherwise clearer rhetoric on immigration and sovereignty.
• McCarthy notes that Pope Leo recently affirmed the right of states to regulate their borders and warned against disorderly migration that creates injustice in destination countries.
• The central controversy is Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, who was born in El Salvador, reportedly tried multiple times to enter the United States illegally as a teenager, was deported at least once, and later became a U.S. citizen.
• The article argues that Menjivar-Ayala was not a young child unknowingly brought across the border but an adult by the time he successfully entered the U.S. and remained.
• McCarthy criticizes the bishop for allegedly justifying rather than apologizing for his illegal entry, presenting it as part of a broader problem with Catholic leadership’s immigration rhetoric.
• The piece also questions the pastoral logic of appointing Menjivar-Ayala to West Virginia, noting that his ministry has focused heavily on Hispanic communities while West Virginia has one of the nation’s smallest Hispanic populations.
• The author portrays the appointment as politically charged, especially because Menjivar-Ayala has criticized Trump-era immigration enforcement and mass deportation policies.
• The article warns that such appointments may reinforce suspicions among some conservatives that Catholic leadership is acting as a foreign political influence rather than as a spiritual authority.
• McCarthy concludes that the pope’s decision is confusing at a time when American Catholics need leadership that encourages both virtue and patriotic love of country.

Read the full story: https://spectator.org/why-did-the-pope-appoint-an-illegal-alien-as-an-american-bishop/