Pope appoints former undocumented immigrant as bishop of West Virginia | West Virginia
Pope Leo XIV appointed as the new bishop of West Virginia a man who once entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant and hid in the trunk of a car.
The Pope approved the resignation of Bishop Mark E Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and selected Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, of Washington to replace him. OSV News.
Bishop Menjivar-Ayala moved to the United States in 1990. In 2023, he served as auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Washington, becoming the first Salvadoran bishop in the country. Considered among the first US bishops born in Central America, he has given speeches openly urging Catholics to oppose Donald Trump’s aggressive policies towards immigrants. Washington Post.
Menjivar-Ayala said at a press conference Friday morning that she accepted her new position “with great joy and humility.”
Born Aug. 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador, Menjivar-Ayala’s journey to the priesthood began with the violence of the Salvadoran civil war, when he and his family narrowly escaped fire from soldiers while fleeing their home, he said. Catholic Standard. After two unsuccessful attempts to reach the United States, thwarted by deportation and a guide who abandoned the immigrant group, he finally succeeded on his third attempt, despite a brief prison sentence in Mexico and a grueling desert crossing.
Recalling his trip to the USA, he said that he “brought a backpack full of only one piece of clothing, but it was full of dreams and illusions that we sometimes cannot understand.” This dream is a light that guides you, and even if you don’t understand the plan, you set out trusting God.”
Once settled in, Menjivar-Ayala prioritized her education by learning English and earning her GED. He worked in cleaning and construction before answering a religious call at a local church in Silver Spring, Maryland, to begin his priestly studies.
“We are mission partners,” he told Catholics at the press conference, adding that he also wanted to hear the ideas of young people, “you are not only the future of the church, you are the gift of the church,” and of the poor, workers and immigrants. He also expressed gratitude to the “first American pope” for his appointment.
Pope Leo had previously expressed his criticism of the Trump administration’s attitude towards immigrants.
“How did you accept the foreigner, did you accept him and welcome him or not? I think there’s something to think deeply about what’s going on,” Pope Leo told reporters when asked about current US immigration policies, adding that he believed foreigners in the US were being treated “extremely disrespectfully.”
In last month’s Truth Social post, Trump described Pope Leo as “POOR on Crime and Terrible on Foreign Policy.”
