(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of Father Robert Boxie III as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Washington is perhaps an indication that the Pope has no intention of backing down from confrontations with President Donald Trump.  

Boxie, 46, has been praised by leftist Catholic commentators for being “outspoken” against perceived Trump administration “attacks on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).”  

Boxie has suggested that diversity in America has “been turned into something negative — or something that should be avoided or not talked about.”  

“In a lot of ways, we have made great progress, but in so many ways, I feel like we’re regressing,” Father Boxie told Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) in 2025. “It’s really frustrating — especially this moment that we’re living in. The attacks on ‘DEI’ — I don’t even know what that means anymore. It’s a term that’s been hijacked. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people.”

“I think at its core, it’s what America is all about. We are a diverse nation with people from all over the world. Diversity is a good thing. Diversity is of God,” he added. “And the fact that it’s been turned into something negative — or something that should be avoided or not talked about — just flies in the face of who we are as Americans.”

Boxie’s un-nuanced comments ignore the reality that unchecked illegal immigration has brought economic harm, rampant fraud, and serious crime to American cities. Likewise, DEI practices have sought to limit merit-based employment and advancement and promote homosexuality, gender ideology, and other behaviors and ideas gravely contrary to the Catholic faith. 

“So much of our history has been exclusive, especially when it comes to race,” Boxie told OSV.

“And it’s just un-American; it’s un-Christian; it’s anti-Catholic,” he said. 

“By all means, promote the female helicopter pilot based on her XX genes who disobeys her instructor because she knows she checks a box, and let the commercial airliner it crashes into go down,” conservative commentator Monica Showalter wrote in response to one online account praising Boxie for his criticism of anti-DEI policies.  

“Put the DEI underachiever hired for his skin color in the surgery room, on the aircraft maintenance team, on the police force, or in charge of the firefighting water reservoirs in Los Angeles,” Showalter continued.  

“What could go wrong?” she asked.  

“Make sure HE’s the patient on the table with the DEI surgeon,” Showalter said. “Like any hypocrite foisting something bad on ‘the little people,’ you can be he will make sure he isn’t, and he will tell anyone complaining that it’s all in their heads, an anomaly, if not thoughts and prayers.” 

“Hypocrite,” she added. 

By all means, promote the female helicopter pilot based on her XX genes who disobeys her instructor because she knows she checks a box, and let the commercial airliner it crashes into go down. Put the DEI underachiever hired for his skin color in the surgery room, on the aircraft…

— Monica Showalter (@mmshowalter1) May 1, 2026

Boxie will now serve under Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington.  

McElroy has aggressively defended giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians and downplayed the gravity of abortion, denying that the murder of unborn children is the “preeminent” moral issue.

McElroy has also faced backlashes for criticizing Catholic teaching on homosexuality, celebrating LGBT-themed Masses, calling for unrepentant homosexuals to be admitted to the Eucharist, and throwing his support behind LGBT activists like Father James Martin.