Pope Francis on Wednesday suggested that Donald J.
Trump “is not Christian” because of the harshness of his campaign promises
to deport more immigrants and force
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said when a reporter asked him about Mr. Trump on the papal airliner as he returned to Rome after his six-day visit to Mexico.
Asked whether he would try to influence Catholics in how they vote in the presidential election, Francis said he “was not going to get involved in that” but then repeated his criticism of Mr. Trump, with a caveat.
“I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that,” Francis said. “We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”
Mr. Trump responded immediately at a campaign rally in
“If and when the
Earlier in his remarks, he said, “I like the pope.”
Asked about the comments, Francis laughed. “Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as ‘animal politicus,’ ” he said.
“So at least I am a human person,” the pope 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.”
Francis also took questions on a handful of other issues.
Donald J. Trump said it was “disgraceful” that Pope
Francis questioned his faith on Thursday and suggested that his presidency
would be the answer to the
As he returned to Rome after his six-day visit to Mexico, Francis said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” in response to a question about Mr. Trump aboard the papal airliner.
Mr. Trump condemned that remark during a campaign rally in
“For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” Mr. Trump said.
The Trump campaign also released a statement from the candidate, defending his hard-line policies on immigration and saying the pope was out of line.
“No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” Mr. Trump said, going on to claim that the pope was being used for political purposes by the Mexican government. “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.”
Mr. Trump went on to say that he would defend Christianity more aggressively than current political leaders.
“If and when the
Other members of Mr. Trump’s campaign also pushed back
against the pope. Dan Scavino, his social media director, posted an image of
And Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of
“Jesus never intended to give instructions to political leaders on how to run a country,” Mr. Falwell told CNN.
The Pope also made a distinction between abortion and birth
control. He flatly ruled out condoning abortion, which he described as “a
crime, an absolute evil.” But he seemed more open to making an exception for
contraception, citing Pope Paul VI’s decision in the 1960s to make an emergency
exception and permit nuns in the
“Avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil,” Francis said. “In certain cases, as in this one, as in that one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear. I would also urge doctors to do their utmost to find vaccines against these mosquitoes that carry this disease.”
Francis’ comments on Mr. Trump and the possibility of using contraceptives to prevent the spread of the Zika virus are certain to garner strong reactions. The church has long opposed the use of artificial contraceptives, a ban reaffirmed by Paul VI in his 1968 papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae.
Francis made his remarks about Mr. Trump barely three hours
after he had concluded his
Francis then celebrated Mass, as a crowd of more than 200,000 people stood barely a stone’s throw from the border and listened to the pope call for compassion for immigrants fleeing chaos, poverty and war.
Mr. Trump has staked out controversial positions on
immigration, vowing to force
In the days before Francis arrived at the border, Mr. Trump criticized the visit, calling the pope a political person and accusing him of acting at the behest of the Mexican government. “I think that the pope is a very political person,” he said.
Mr. Trump, in an interview with Fox Business Network,
said: “I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have
with
Mr. Trump is a Presbyterian and has been trying to make inroads among evangelical voters as he seeks to win the coming set of Southern primaries.
Francis was asked about recent reports about newly disclosed letters revealing the closeness of the relationship between Pope John Paul II and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a philosopher and author who collaborated with John Paul. Francis argued that a close friendship between a man and woman “is not a sin, it’s a friendship. A romantic relationship with a woman who is not your wife — that is a sin. Understand?”
He said that popes were men but that they needed advice and friendship from women. Such relationships need not stir suspicions, he said. “The pope, too, has a heart that can have a healthy, holy friendship with a woman,” he said.
Asked about the continuing problem of clerical sexual abuse,
Francis defended his record despite criticism that he is not sufficiently
focused on the issue. He listed the things he has done to speed up prosecution
of cases in the
Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis and Donald Trump:
Earlier today, I commented on how the media like to ask Donald Trump to opine about the pope's position on immigration, but no one wants to ask Hillary Clinton about the pope's position on abortion. Now the pope is being asked about Trump's position on immigration. The pope is making headlines everywhere for saying, "Trump is not a Christian." But there is much more to this story than what is being reported.
First, the question to the pope inaccurately reflected Trump's views. Quite frankly, the pope was set up. The reporter told the pope that Trump "wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, thus separating families." That is patently false. On August 16, 2015, Chuck Todd, on "Meet the Press," asked Trump, "You're going to split up families. You're going to deport children?" To which Trump said, "Chuck—no, no. No, we're going to keep the families together. We have to keep the families together." When asked where they would go, Trump said, "We will work with them." So the pope was misled.
Second, after misrepresenting what Trump said, the reporter asked the pope "if an American Catholic can vote for someone like this." This is rather amazing: Do some in the media now want the pope to tell Catholics who to vote for!
Third, the pope, unlike the media, was totally fair to Trump. He said, "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian." (My italic.) He added that "I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that...and in this I give the benefit of the doubt." (My italics.)
In fact, Trump's official position on immigration lists three principles: "A nation without borders is not a nation"; "A nation without laws is not a nation"; "A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation." The last two principles are never mentioned by the media, thus do they distort Trump's thinking. The bias, which is as strong on the right as it is on the left, is astounding.
How can Pope judge Trump ? Being Christian is what ? Any superiority for these Christian hypocrites ? Catholics, vote for Trump, save national security.