Pope Francis is not expected to veto President Donald Trump's choice of a high-profile critic of his papacy as the next U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, according to two senior Vatican officials, despite misgivings about his stance on many issues.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming U.S. president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

The pope has made welcoming migrants a key theme of his nearly 12-year papacy, and he has previously criticized Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said Trump was "not Christian" in his view.

Vásquez was most recently selected by Francis to oversee the Diocese of Tyler, also in Texas, after he dismissed its former bishop, Joseph Strickland, who had openly accused the pope of being a heretic and called into question the validity of his leadership.

The pope’s comments provided the latest indication of a potential rekindling of frictions between the Vatican and the next Trump White House.