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What some see as a shot across the bow aimed at President-elect Donald Trump, Pope Francis announced Monday that left-wing Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego would be the next archbishop of Washington.

McElroy, 70, will succeed retiring archbishop, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, 77, who shepherded the more than 600,000 Catholics who live in the nation’s capital region.

Gregory has not been afraid to oppose abortion in the public square, but angered some Catholics with his restriction on the traditional Latin Mass. In a press conference on Monday, Gregory thanked all “the priests, deacons, and religious men and women who have offered themselves so tirelessly and selflessly in service to the faithful in our parishes, schools, and Catholic institutions.”

The Archdiocese of Washington is known for its influence not only in the halls of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court, but also on young people through Catholic schools and universities within its jurisdiction.

The pope’s pick for Gregory’s successor is well-known for his advocacy on issues as wide-ranging as admitting women to the diaconate to allowing even those in grave sin to receive Communion, and it has garnered him no shortage of critics among his fellow priests.

But observers of the Catholic Church were quick to note that the position McElroy holds that will most put him at variance with the soon-to-be new occupant of the White House is illegal immigration.

McElroy did not shy away from the topic at the press conference announcing his appointment.

“The Catholic Church teaches that a nation has the right to control its borders, and our nation’s desire to do that is a legitimate effort. At the same time, we are called always to have a sense of the dignity of every human person. And thus, plans that have been talked about at some levels of having a wider, indiscriminate, massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine,” the cardinal argued.

McElroy’s comments come after Catholic charities in the United States have been criticized for facilitating the unlawful migration crisis in the United States through their support of illegal aliens who are transported across the border by Mexican drug and trafficking cartels.

In Texas, state Attorney General Ken Paxton has sought the records of several Catholic groups in order to make sure their conduct has not crossed over into human trafficking. For example, Annunciation House in El Paso has been accused by Paxton of having “assisted persons in Mexico in crossing over to the United States in the past.”

Because religious organizations such as Annunciation House are tax-exempt, it can be difficult to ascertain who supports them and what exactly their activities consist of. Annunciation House has not disclosed its financial accounting to the IRS since 2003.

McElroy also drew pushback from lay Catholics this past September when he released a statement prohibiting Catholic homeschool and charter school groups from having “designated special access to the parish facilities of the Diocese of San Diego.” The policy was articulated even as the diocese allowed unused school buildings to be rented out to a “non-Catholic educational program or school,” subject to the cardinal’s approval.

The move was seen as particularly tone-deaf, given that it was rolled out just days before the academic semester was set to begin for some homeschool groups. The Pillar, a Catholic media organization, reported that at least one group had to quickly find a different location to meet for its class of 40 students.