Ousted White House chief strategist Steve Bannon finally gave his first television interview, and for a Catholic, he picked a surprising target for criticism: the Catholic Church. Bannon claimed the Church is only defending “illegal aliens” because it needs to fill pew seats.Clips of Bannon’s interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Charlie Rose aired Thursday morning. In the clips, Rose brought up the fact that Cardinal Timothy Dolan — the archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York — has condemned President Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as “contrary to the spirit of the Bible and of our country, and a turning away from the ideals upon which our beloved country was founded.”“The Catholic Church has been terrible at this,” Bannon retorted. “The bishops have been terrible about this. By the way, you know why? You know why? Because unable to really to come to grips with the problems in the Church, they need illegal aliens; they need illegal aliens to fill the churches. It’s obvious on the face of it.”
Advertisement
“They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration, unlimited illegal immigration,” Bannon continued, stressing that he “totally respect[s]” the Catholic hierarchy when it comes to doctrine. “This is not about doctrine. This is about the sovereignty of a nation. And in that regard, they’re just another guy with an opinion.”The New York Archdiocese did not return “60 Minutes”’ request for comment. Ending DACA — which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children from deportation and allows them to live and work in the U.S. — would imperil the immigration status of about 800,000 people.As the former executive chair of the far-right Breitbart News, Bannon has long fought for economic nationalist policies. He left the administration in August (and has returned to Breitbart), shortly after Trump said the violence at the Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally last month came from “both sides.”