Mike Johnson Just Tried To Correct The Pope On The Bible. Seriously.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was derisively accused by critics on social media of trying to “outdo the Pope” after he tried to use scripture to defend the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda.
Johnson, a Southern Baptist, was asked to comment on this quote from Chicago-born Pope Leo: Matthew 25:35 The current leader of the Roman Catholic Church encouraged him to “think deeply” about how immigrants are treated in the United States.
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On Tuesday, Migrant Insider editor Pablo Manríquez asked Johnson in a clip shared by Newsmax: “Pope Leo quoted Matthew 25:35 to criticize Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. How would you respond to Pope Leo in scripture?”
“So you want me to give you a theological treatise?” Johnson replied. “Okay. I tell you what. I’ll post it on my website later today, but let me give you a quick summary.”
Johnson argued that the Bible welcomes immigration but teaches that “assimilation is expected, expected, and proper.”
“When someone comes to your country, when he comes to your nation, he has no right to change its laws or change a society,” he said. “They’re expected to assimilate. We haven’t had much of that sort of thing.”
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Johnson claimed that scripture requires civil authorities to “maintain order” and accused the Biden-Harris administration of failing to do so.
“We didn’t pay attention to our borders,” he said. “Sovereign borders are biblical and good and right and just, not because we hate the people on the outside, but because we love the people on the inside.”
“We must love our neighbor as ourselves and as individuals, but the government as a civil authority must uphold the law, and that is biblical, right and just,” he added.
Johnson later shared his argument in a 1,300-word post on X, formerly Twitter:
The response quickly drew backlash online, with critics accusing Johnson of hypocrisy and carelessly choosing scripture to justify the policy.
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