VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV named a former undocumented migrant as bishop of West Virginia on Friday, weeks after a high-profile verbal confrontation with US President Donald Trump.
The US-born leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics has been highly critical of Trump over immigration and the Middle East war.
The Vatican in a statement announced the nomination of 56-year-old Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, currently an auxiliary bishop in Washington.
Born in El Salvador, Menjivar-Ayala migrated to the US in 1990, according to a biography on the Washington diocese website.
He has spoken in interviews about being born into poverty and fleeing conflict in his native country to arrive in the US as a refugee. After being initially detained in Mexico trying to get to the US, he said in an interview last year that he paid a bribe to get out and crossed the border at Tijuana.
He was ordained as a priest in 2004 and became a bishop in 2023.
Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026
