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Pope Leo XIV Receives Letters from ICE Detainees in Chicago
· Confirmed
In Short: Pope Leo XIV received letters and messages from individuals detained at an ICE facility near Chicago, according to Catholic Review and OSV News.
Pope Leo XIV received letters and messages from individuals detained at an ICE facility near Chicago, according to Catholic Review and OSV News. The pope met with members of the Chicago-based Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square on October 28.
The CSPL, which provides spiritual and pastoral support to immigrants and refugees, presented the pope with a handmade album of photos from their actions over the past year, along with messages of love, support, and hope from coalition members and detainees.
Abigail Ortiz Valles, a Scalabrinian laywoman who works with the coalition at the Broadview ICE facility, testified to the pope's visible emotion during their meeting.
Ortiz Valles said, “I told him that every time I visit Broadview, I encounter Jesus and His Passion… Forgive me, but I’m very emotional right now.”
The coalition had been denied access to the ICE processing center when “Operation Midway Blitz” began in September 2025, but they were allowed to return after suing the U.S. government and obtaining an injunction.
The group had provided pastoral care for detainees at the ICE processing center until being denied access at the start of Operation Midway Blitz, an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.
CSPL’s primary mission is to defend the rights of migrants and their families, and they have made more than 135 visits to 725 detainees in the Broadview ICE facility since May.
Members of the coalition wore yellow T-shirts depicting an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe with her right fist held aloft and a verse from Mary’s Magnificat in Lk 1:46-55.
The coalition also held a banner saying, “The Church … needs a holy rebellion,” a quote from the pope in July urging young people to serve others.
Ortiz Valles noted, “You have inspired us and countless Bishops to carry on this work across the country… Please continue to pray for us and encourage us through your words and your guidance.”
What this adds
The pope's meeting with the coalition members and detainees adds to the ongoing efforts to provide pastoral care and support to immigrants and refugees detained at ICE facilities.
The coalition's work highlights the challenges faced by religious groups in accessing federal detention centers and providing spiritual support to detainees.
Background
The home where Pope Leo XIV grew up in Dolton, Illinois, has become a tourist attraction since his election.
The home, built in 1949, has attracted visitors from far and wide, with people coming to see where the Chicago-born pope spent his childhood.
What's confirmed
- “The pope looked visibly moved” while listening to the testimony of Abigail Ortiz Valles, a Scalabrinian laywoman who takes part in the coalition’s ministry at the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago, according to the group’s Facebook page.
- October 30, 2026 By Carol Glatz OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XIV received letters and messages from individuals detained in a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) processing facility near Chicago and from Catholics active in providing immigrants and refugees with spiritual and pastoral support.
- Many more joined protests and calls to activism after the heavily militarized and more controversial “Operation Midway Blitz” was launched by ICE to raid targeted locations and arrest and detain people reported to be illegal immigrants.
- They also held a banner saying, “The Church … needs a holy rebellion,” a quote from the pope in July urging young people to serve others.
- Coalition members had been denied access to the ICE processing center when “Operation Midway Blitz” began in September 2025, but they were allowed to return to provide hundreds of detainees pastoral care after suing the U.S. government and obtaining an injunction.
- “We are bringing visibility to our sisters and brothers being brutally kidnapped, detained, and deported. We are fighting to protect the religious freedom and dignity of immigrant individuals,” the coalition said on its website.
- Members of the Chicago-based Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership gave him an album containing the items when they met with the pope and at the end of the pope’s weekly general audience in St.
What's still developing
- Broadview, located 15 kilometers from downtown Chicago, has become a central focus of CSPL's efforts to support migrants facing detention.
- CSPL’s primary mission is to defend the rights of “mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and workers from our communities who are being torn away from their families and their lives.” Before May, the group faced difficulties securing access to the federal facility, but after a period of delays, it obtained temporary authorization to conduct daily visits.
- Beyond the detention center, CSPL assists hundreds of migrants from Central and South America across Chicago's suburbs on a daily basis.
- Make A One-Time Gift to Support My Work The Archdiocese of St. Louis sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal judge in Missouri to let its priests hear confessions and bring Communion to the roughly 150 immigration detainees held at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center.
- Letters from Leo is a reader-supported publication and the fastest-growing Catholic community in the country.
- “They cannot hear confessions, they cannot celebrate Mass, they cannot give the anointing of the sick to any of the detainees,” the archbishop said of his priests.
- According to attendees, Pope Leo appeared touched by the photographs and letters.