Pope Appoints Former Undocumented Immigrant from El Salvador to Lead West Virginia Diocese
Evelio Menjívar-Ayala has already criticized US anti-migration policies.
Evelio Menjívar-Ayala. Photo: Sarah Voisin/Getty Images
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Evelio Menjívar-Ayala — originally from El Salvador, who in his youth repeatedly tried to enter the US illegally — as head of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia, writes Fox News.
His migration story is unusual. As a teenager, he fled a country gripped by guerrilla warfare — and each time he was detained. The first time, Mexican authorities deported him to Guatemala. The second attempt — through the Guatemalan jungles — ended with him returning home on his own. The third led him to a Mexican prison, from which he was released only after a bribe. Finally, an elderly American brought him to the US — Menjívar-Ayala and three others hid in the trunk of his car at the San Ysidro border crossing.
In America, he started as a cleaner at a UPS warehouse in Maryland, then became a youth minister and received a residence permit. Menjívar-Ayala became a bishop much later.
The appointment sparked widespread discussion — primarily due to its political context. The new bishop publicly criticized the Trump administration's anti-migration policies: in 2025, he published an article in the Catholic Standard in which he compared the plight of migrants to the suffering of Christ and called some government actions a "violation of fundamental human rights."
Relations between the Vatican and the White House are already strained. Leo XIV has already condemned the war in the Middle East and supported American bishops who criticized deportations. Trump, in response, called the Pope "weak on crime and foreign policy," though he added that he "has nothing against" him personally and has the right to disagree.
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