Texas Catholic Bishops Are Critical of Abbott, but Immigration Views Split in the Pews

The Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to opt out of the federal refugee resettlement program “deeply discouraging and disheartening” brings renewed attention to what has been called a “balancing act between [his] Catholic faith and politics.” Public opinion data suggest Abbott’s position will land very differently with Republican Catholics than it did with the church leaders who were moved to publicly dissent from his decision.