In new battle with Catholic Church, Feds seek Jesus-topped border peak
EL PASO, TX ‒ Federal officials are trying to seize from the Roman Catholic Church a rugged border mountain topped with a massive statue of Jesus, arguing they need the land to build President Donald Trump's border wall and keep out unauthorized immigrants.
Filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico on May 7, the federal government's eminent domain claim on Mount Cristo Rey on the Texas-Mexico-New Mexico border comes as Trump and Pope Leo XIV have disagreed over the United States' treatment of immigrants.
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has repeatedly cautioned that Trump's tough immigration strategy is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. A recent poll showed more Americans siding with Leo than Trump.
The mountaintop statue of Jesus on the cross, facing the rising sun to the east, has long drawn religious pilgrims from both sides of the border, although the statue sits a few hundred feet on the American side.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/battle-catholic-church-feds-seek-212034797.html