(RNS) — Vice President JD Vance apologized to Cardinal Timothy Dolan for his accusations that Catholic bishops expressed concerns about immigration issues because they were motivated by money, the cardinal said in an interview on EWTN, a large Catholic television network, released Thursday (Feb. 19).
“He and I had a little tête-à-tête, you probably know, when he suggested that bishops in the United States were pro-immigrant because we were making money, which I said was not only untrue, it was scurrilous. And he apologized. All right? He says that was out of line, and that’s not true,” Dolan, who retired as archbishop of New York in December, told Mark Irons in an interview on “EWTN News In Depth” that touched on many political topics.
Vance, a Catholic, made the comments about the bishops’ “bottom line” in his first television interview after becoming vice president when he was asked by CBS’ Margaret Brennan about bishops’ concerns over an executive order lifting restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on schools and houses of worship, signed by President Donald Trump early in 2025.
“I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said.
In 2024, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops received more than $180 million dollars in federal government contracts for programs assisting refugees and unaccompa …
