Story highlights Bannon: "They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration"

Bannon, a Catholic, downplayed the church's opinions on DACA

Washington (CNN) Former White House chief strategist Steven Bannon said the Catholic Church's support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, is economically driven and owes to the church's struggle to fill pews.

"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," Bannon said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired in full Sunday night. "They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration."

DACA protects undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children from deportation. The Trump administration formally announced Tuesday that it is ending the Obama-era program, but it would wait six months before stopping the renewal of permits for protectees in order to give Congress time to decide their fate.

In the interview, Bannon said he thought the program should be abolished, adding that delaying such action will only heighten Republican rifts over the program and foment disunity going into next year's midterm elections.

"I'm worried about losing the House now because of this ... because of DACA," Bannon said. "And my fear is that with this six months down range, if we have another huge -- if this goes all the way down to its logical conclusion, in February and March it will be a civil war inside the Republican Party that will be every bit as vitriolic as 2013. And to me, doing that in the springboard of primary season for 2018 is extremely unwise."