
In response to the Pope:
If and when, the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.
The Mexican government and its leadership has made many disparaging remarks about me to the Pope, because they want to continue to rip off the United States, both on trade and at the border, and they understand I am totally wise to them. The Pope only heard one side of the story - he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States. He doesn’t see how Mexican leadership is outsmarting President Obama and our leadership in every aspect of negotiation.
For a
religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud
to be a Christian and as President I will not allow Christianity to be
consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with
our current President. No leader, especially a religious leader, should
have the right to question another man’s religion or faith. They are
using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for
doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal
immigration is so rampant.
Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump
Pope suggests Trump 'is not Christian'
(CNN)Thrusting
himself into the combative 2016 presidential campaign, Pope Francis
said Thursday that GOP frontrunner Donald Trump "is not Christian" if he
calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants and pledges to
build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
The
Pope, who was traveling back to Rome from Mexico, where he urged the
United States to address the "humanitarian crisis" on its southern
border, did not tell American Catholics not vote for Trump.
But Francis left little doubt where he stood on the polarizing issue of immigration reform.
"A
person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and
not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel," the
Pope told journalists who asked his opinion on Trump's proposals to halt
illegal immigration.
Trump immediately fired back on Thursday, calling Francis' comments "disgraceful."
"No
leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to
question another man's religion or faith," he said in statement. Trump
added that the government in Mexico, where Pope spent the past five
days, has "made many disparaging remarks about me to the Pope."
"If
and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is
ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only
wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president," Trump
added.
The tussle between Trump and
Francis -- two outsized personalities who seldom shy from speaking their
minds -- seems to have been building for some time. Before the Pope
traveled to Mexico last week, Trump cast the pontiff as a political naif
who "doesn't understand the dangers" at the U.S.-Mexican border.
Trump's
social media director Dan Scavino suggested the comments were
hypocritical. "Amazing comments from the Pope- considering Vatican City
is 100% surrounded by massive walls," he tweeted.
During the wide-ranging press conference
aboard the papal plane, Francis also seemed to suggest that
contraception may be used to prevent the transmission of the Zika virus and praised Saint John Paul II's "holy friendship" with a Polish woman.
But
it was his comments on Trump that seem sure to dominate the political
conversation, perhaps handing a gift to Trump's GOP opponents and
opening Francis to criticism that his papacy is too partisan and his
policies too liberal. Polls indicate that while Democrats adore the Pope, Republicans view him a little less favorably.
Asked if American Catholics should vote for Trump, Francis demurred.
"As
far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to
vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man
is not Christian if he has said things like that."
The
Pope appeared somewhat unaware of Trump's exact stance on illegal
immigration, though, saying that he would give him "the benefit of the
doubt" until he had heard exactly what the billionaire businessman had
said.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a
Vatican spokesman, said Tuesday that the Pope knows "Trump expresses
himself in an expressive way," but "is not always up to date on the
latest statements."
Trump has pledged
to build an $8 billion wall along the United States' southern border and
says he will force Mexico to pay the tab. Trump has also said that, if
elected president, he would eject some 11 million undocumented
immigrants from the country.
"You have
people coming in, and I'm not just saying Mexicans — I'm talking about
people that are from all over that are killers and rapists, and they're
coming into this country," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper last June.
Before the Pope left for Mexico, Trump called Francis "a very political person" and suggested that the Francis, who celebrated Mass Wednesday near the U.S.-Mexican border, was a pawn of the Mexican government.
The Pope made light of Trump's accusations.
"Thank
God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human
person as 'animal politicus.' So at least I am a human person," he said.
"As to whether I am a pawn, well, maybe, I don't know. I'll leave that
up to your judgment and that of the people."
The White House weighs in
White
House spokesman Josh Earnest, asked about Pope Francis' comments on
Donald Trump, referred back to President Obama's remarks last month at
the National Prayer Breakfast.
He said
Obama "talked about how his own personal Christian faith informed his
view of the values and priorities that he has chosen to champion in the
White House."
"We've noted on a number of occasions that a number of those values and priorities are not shared by Mr. Trump," Earnest said.
Then he took a jab at Trump's repeated questioning of Obama's Christian faith.
"I
will however extend to Mr. Trump the courtesy he has not extended to
the president and not use this opportunity to call into question the
kind of private personal conversations he is having with his God,"
Earnest said.
The Pope in Mexico
The
Pope's comments on Trump came on his way home from an emotional trip to
Mexico, where the first Latin American pontiff was greeted by boisterous
crowds that often burst into songs or tears as he approached.
Celebrating Mass on Wednesday in Ciudad Juarez,
a city just across the border from the United States, Francis delivered
a stinging critique of leaders on both sides of the fence, calling the
"forced migration" of thousands of Central Americans a "human tragedy"
and "humanitarian crisis."
"Being faced
with so many legal vacuums," the Pope said during his homily before a
congregation of more than 200,000 people, "they get caught up in a web
that ensnares and always destroys the poorest."
As
he prepared to leave Mexico, Francis Pope thanked Mexicans for opening
their doors and their lives to him. "At times I felt like weeping to see
so much hope in a people who are suffering so much."


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