President Donald Trump will meet with Sister Norma Pimentel, a Catholic nun whose charity for new immigrants on the Texas-Mexico border has won praise from Pope Francis, at a roundtable discussion during the President’s trip to the border on Thursday.
The roundtable discussion and border trip are part of Trump’s push to convince Congress to fund his proposed $5.7 billion wall on the US-Mexico border.
A spokeswoman for Pimentel, fondly known as “the Pope’s favorite nun,” said the nun will focus her message on “caring for the person in front of you.”
Pimentel, director of Catholic Charities for the Rio Grande Valley, shared a similar message in an op-ed on Wednesday.
“Every day of the year, from morning to evening, families coming over the border are welcomed at our center with smiles, a warm bowl of soup, a shower and a place to rest,” she wrote.
“Most families are exhausted and afraid, carrying little more than a few belongings in a plastic bag. They come in all forms and at all ages. Few speak any English. Most are in great need of help. Some days, we see 20 people. Other days, it’s closer to 300. In recent weeks, it has been very busy. Some stay a few hours, but many spend the night before heading on to new destinations. Since we opened, more than 100,000 have come through our doors.”
“Regardless of who we are and where we came from, we remain part of the human family and are called to live in solidarity with one another,” she added.
In 2015, the Pope personally thanked Pimentel for her and other religious sisters’ work.
“I want to thank you,” Francis said during a virtual papal audience hosted by ABC News. “And through you to thank all the sisters of religious orders in the US for the work that you have done and that you do in the United States. It’s great. I congratulate you. Be courageous. Move forward.
“I’ll tell you one other thing. Is it inappropriate for the Pope to say this? I love you all very much.”
After that encounter with Francis, people began calling Pimentel “the Pope’s favorite nun.”
Francis himself tussled with Trump over the proposed border wall in 2016, when he said:
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel.”
Trump immediately fired back, calling Francis’ comments “disgraceful.”
“No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” he said in statement.
