The bishop of Rome set off the tiff aboard the papal plane as he was flying home from Mexico, the country whose government Trump has made a scapegoat for all that ails the United States. And as Pope Francis found himself answering questions from reporters about Trump, he did not mince words.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," Francis told reporters in response to a specific question about the presidential candidate, according to Reuters' account. "This is not in the gospel."
Asked by a reporter whether an American Catholic could vote for him, the pope 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 says things like that,” he said, before referring to Trump directly: “We must see if he said things in that way, and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”
Moments later, Trump's campaign issued a full statement in which he called the pope's questioning of his faith "disgraceful."
"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," he said in the statement.
"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," the statement concluded.
Pope Francis has shown a willingness in the past to engage on matters of political contention. During a visit to the United States last year, he delivered a message to Congress on the importance of addressing the role of humans in environmental changes. And he has urged Catholics to intervene in political affairs where they saw the right. "Ask the Lord to help you not sin, but if you get your hands dirty, ask for forgiveness and keep going," he told a group last May.
But the decision to directly take on Trump is in a whole other league.
Trump has, in the past, called the pope "political," and last week he slammed the pope's visit to Mexico's border this week as showing a lack of understanding of the situation there.
"I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has. I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico," Trump told Fox Business on Feb. 11. "Mexico got him to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they’re making a fortune and we’re losing.”
Asked by reporters on Thursday about being called "political,” the pope said, "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."
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