The exchange was brief, but it was revealing. When Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Pope Leo’s rhetoric criticizing border enforcement and America’s immigration policies, he didn’t reach for partisan slogans or poll-tested phrasing. He reached for Scripture. Specifically, he cited Romans 13, a passage that has anchored Christian teaching on civil authority for nearly two thousand years.
In doing so, Johnson reminded listeners of something increasingly unfashionable to say out loud: government exists to restrain evil, preserve order, and uphold law. Borders matter. Law matters. Order matters. And acknowledging that is not a rejection of Christian compassion. It is an expression of it.
That response, reported by Fox News, stood out precisely because it was calm, grounded, and biblically coherent. It did not deny human suffering or minimize the dignity of migrants. It simply refused to accept the false premise that compassion and enforcement are moral opposites. In today’s climate, where “faith-based” commentary often collapses into political performance, that distinction matters.
Which brings us, respectfully, to Pope Leo. As the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics, his words carry immense moral authority. When he speaks on borders and immigration, he is not merely offering personal reflection; he is shaping consciences. And in this case, his framing falls short of the full counsel of Scripture.
Christian compassion has never meant open borders. Scripture holds two truths together, not in tension but in harmony. Human beings are made in the image of God and deserve dignity, mercy, and care. At the same time, God ordains civil authority to establish boundaries, enforce law, and restrain chaos. Romans 13 is explicit on this point. So is the rest of the biblical narrative. Nehemiah rebuilt walls to protect the vulnerable. Cities in both Testaments had gates. Nations had borders. Communities had structure. None of this contradicted love of neighbor. It enabled it.
What we have witnessed in recent years is not compassion, but negligence dressed up as virtue. Millions crossing illegally, cartels thriving, women and children trafficked, communities overwhelmed, schools and hospitals strained, fentanyl flooding in. That is not mercy. That is disorder. And disorder always harms the weakest first.
Jesus welcomed the outcast, fed the hungry, and healed the sick. He also affirmed lawful authority, paid taxes, and rejected anarchy. He never taught that chaos was holy or that enforcement was cruelty. The modern progressive religious narrative that treats borders as sinful and enforcement as immoral is not biblical. It is political.
Speaker Johnson understood that. He did not posture or pander. He simply answered like a Christian who has read his Bible and taken it seriously. In an age when sentimentality is confused with virtue, that kind of moral clarity is rare—and necessary.
This is not written to attack Pope Leo, but to urge him to do better. To speak with theological precision. To resist baptizing political ideology in religious language. Christianity is not a slogan factory. It is a truth tradition. It teaches that people matter, and order matters, and justice matters, and responsibility matters.
