Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons is calling for the removal of a Nativity display outside a Dedham church, saying the pastor is promoting a political message that endangers federal immigration officers.

The display at St. Susanna Church shows an empty manger with a sign reading “ICE WAS HERE.” It also lists contact information for a group that monitors immigration enforcement in Massachusetts.

The parish council of the church plans to announce a decision about the display about 4 p.m. Monday, December 8, according to WCVB Channel 5 in Boston.

Lyons told Fox News that “the actions of the activist reverend, Stephen Josoma, are absolutely abhorrent and add to a dangerous narrative responsible for a more than 1,150% increase in assaults on ICE officers.”

He said Josoma “has become infamous for using his pulpit to advance his activist agenda and has now caught the attention of the Archdiocese of Boston, which has publicly condemned his most recent political stunt. On behalf of ICE and our many law enforcement professionals in Massachusetts — many of whom are practicing Catholics and first-generation Americans — I applaud the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese for taking a stand against such a dangerous and extremist narrative.”

The Archdiocese of Boston issued a statement Friday calling the display “divisive political messaging” and saying it violates church norms. The statement came from Terrence Donilon, the archdiocese’s secretary for communications and public affairs.

“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging,” Donilon told NewBostonPost via email. “The Church’s norms prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people. This includes images of the Christ Child in the manger, which are to be used solely to foster faith and devotion.

“St. Susanna Parish neither requested nor received permission from the Archdiocese to depart from this canonical norm or to place a politically divisive display outside the church," he added. "The display should be removed, and the manger restored to its proper sacred purpose.”

Father Stephen Josoma, the pastor at St. Susanna, told Fox News that the parish’s peace and justice group creates a display each year to consider how the Nativity story would unfold in the modern world.

Josoma said they “try to see what would it be like if Christ was born into the context of the world today, what would he be facing?”

Josoma said the scene is “religious art” meant to move people.

“It’s supposed to affect people deeply, it’s supposed to move people, it’s supposed to change people,” he said. “So, if this evokes a strong reaction, it’s maybe good to take a look at that.”

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts also welcomed the Archdiocese’s response.

League executive director C.J. Doyle told NewBostonPost he “commends” the Archdiocese for “doing the right thing” and noted that earlier controversies at St. Susanna’s drew no public action under previous leadership.

The church also reportedly put baby Jesus in a cage in its 2018 Nativity scene to protest the first Trump administration's family separation policy at the United States-Mexico border.

Josoma could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday morning.