Pope Francis’s letter poses an implicit question to the whole church in the United States: Will we subject our political debates on immigration to the scrutiny of the Gospel or not?

Not so Pope Francis this week. It was not a spokesman, but the Pope himself, and his letter was drafted in the form customary for more solemn documents. It referred directly to the signature policy of the Trump administration as a “major crisis.” Vatican observers who called the letter “unprecedented” were not wrong.

Pope Francis addressed the bishops of the United States on Tuesday about the country’s ongoing mass deportation of immigrants.