Pope Leo XIV on Friday appointed a Salvadoran-born bishop who entered the United States illegally in the trunk of a car and a Howard University chaplain who calls diversity "of God" to head two of the country's most prominent Catholic posts, moves that land squarely in the middle of the American political divide over immigration and race.

Bishop Evelio Menjivar, 55, was named bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, a diocese that covers the entirety of West Virginia. Father Robert Boxie III, 46, was selected as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. The Daily Caller reported that both appointments came as part of a broader announcement of new diocesan leadership across the country.

The timing is hard to miss. The appointments arrived weeks after President Donald Trump publicly urged the pope to "focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician." Leo responded by saying he has "no fear of the Trump administration" and that he would stay out of the political debate. Naming Menjivar and Boxie, two men whose public records place them firmly on the progressive side of immigration and racial politics, suggests the Vatican's definition of "staying out of the debate" differs from most people's.

Menjivar: from the trunk of a car to a West Virginia cathedral

Menjivar's biography reads like a case study in the very immigration enforcement debate roiling the country. A native of El Salvador, he attempted to cross the U.S. border three times as a teenager before being smuggled into California in 1990 in the trunk of a car, the Washington Post previously reported. He worked odd jobs before eventually obtaining citizenship, U.S. Catholic reported.

In 2023, Menjivar became the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States when he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Washington. Now Leo has elevated him to lead the diocese covering all of West Virginia, a state that, as Christopher Hale noted on X, is roughly 90 percent white and voted for Trump by approximately 42 points.

Hale, an author and former Obama-Biden White House and campaign staffer, called the appointment "remarkable." He also reported that Leo's last tweet before being elected pope was a retweet of a post containing an excerpt of Menjivar's own words.

Those words are worth reading carefully. In an April 2025 op-ed published in the Catholic Standard, Menjivar described Trump immigration policies as, in his words, "disturbing actions in violation of fundamental human rights and dignity." He went further, writing that government staff and officers who do not speak out are "complicit with evil."

Menjivar wrote in that same op-ed:

"Do you not see the suffering of your neighbors? Do you not realize the pain and misery and very real fear and anxiety these unjust government operations and policies are causing? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?"

That is not the language of a pastor tending to souls. It is the language of a political activist accusing federal law enforcement officers of participating in evil. And the man who wrote it now leads the Catholic faithful in one of the most conservative states in the union.

Pope Leo XIV has shown a willingness to make headline-grabbing moves since his election, from convening an exorcist delegation at the Vatican to these latest American appointments. The pattern suggests a pope comfortable with provocation, even as he claims neutrality.

Boxie: DEI is 'of God'

Father Robert Boxie III brings a different but parallel set of political commitments to his new post. Raised in Louisiana, Boxie served as chaplain at Howard University before his appointment as one of two new auxiliary bishops in Washington. Hale described him on X as "the youngest bishop in the United States."

Boxie has been outspoken in his defense of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the framework that the Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle across the federal government. In an interview with OSV, Boxie said that "at its core," America is about DEI.

He told OSV:

"We are a diverse nation with people from all over the world. Diversity is a good thing. Diversity is of God. And the fact that it's been turned into something negative, or something that should be avoided or not talked about, just flies in the face of who we are as Americans."

Boxie went further, tying the issue to race and national identity. He stated that "so much of our history has been exclusive, especially when it comes to race," calling that history "un-American," "un-Christian," and "anti-Catholic."

These are not throwaway remarks from a parish bulletin. They are direct criticisms of the sitting president's domestic agenda, delivered by a man the Vatican just elevated to one of the most visible Catholic leadership positions in the nation's capital. The conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV has now produced a papacy that appears intent on placing outspoken progressives in American seats of authority.

The pro-life question

To his credit, Boxie has spoken publicly in defense of the unborn. At a 2019 March for Life Mass, he told Catholics that being pro-life extends beyond the womb, but he did not shy from the march's core purpose.

Boxie said at that event:

"Marching today for these innocent hidden unborn lives because we are pro-life means that we march and stand up for every single human life inside the womb and outside the womb, and most especially for those in our communities who are poor, forgotten, marginalized and neglected."

He continued, listing "those whose lives are devalued because of the sin of racism and discrimination of any kind; the immigrant and the refugee; those without access to basic services that allow them the chance to live and to flourish as God intended them."

The statement is a window into a worldview that treats immigration enforcement and racial politics as moral equivalents of abortion, a framing many faithful Catholics reject. The "seamless garment" approach has long been a way for progressive clergy to dilute the Church's witness on life issues by folding them into a broader social-justice agenda that conveniently aligns with the Democratic Party platform.

What the Vatican is signaling

The Catholic Church is not a democracy, and popes have always appointed bishops without consulting the electorate. But the political dimensions of these choices are impossible to ignore. Menjivar, who entered the country illegally, now leads the diocese in a state where voters overwhelmingly support stricter border enforcement. Boxie, who frames DEI as a divine imperative, now holds a leadership post in Washington at the very moment the federal government is dismantling DEI programs.

The broader context of internal Catholic conflict over Vatican authority makes these appointments all the more significant. Traditionalist Catholics already feel sidelined by a hierarchy that seems more interested in progressive social causes than in doctrinal fidelity. Elevating men who publicly oppose the policies of the president most American Catholics voted for does nothing to ease that tension.

Leo said he would stay out of American politics. These appointments suggest otherwise. A pope who names an outspoken critic of U.S. immigration enforcement to lead a deep-red state's Catholics, and who elevates a DEI champion to the Washington archdiocese, is making a political statement, whether he admits it or not.

And the faithful in the pews, the ones who show up, tithe, and try to live by the Church's actual teachings, are left to wonder whether their shepherds answer to Rome or to the editorial board of the Washington Post. Pope Leo XIV has also drawn attention for dramatic pastoral gestures abroad, but his domestic appointments carry consequences that will be felt in parishes from Charleston to Capitol Hill.

Other corners of the Catholic world are testing the boundaries of church authority in their own ways. But few moves carry the same political charge as placing vocal critics of a popular president's agenda in positions of spiritual authority over the very communities that support him.

Actions speak louder than encyclicals

Menjivar called government officers "complicit with evil" for enforcing immigration law. Boxie said opposing DEI is "un-American" and "anti-Catholic." These are the men the Vatican chose to lead American Catholics at this moment.

Conservative Catholics deserve bishops who will defend the faith, not the faculty lounge. Whether they got that on Friday is a question the Vatican seems uninterested in answering.