Vatican: Pope’s ‘don’t build walls’ not singling out Trump

Others remarked that Francis’ comments about Trump reflected his hypocrisy, given that the Vatican City itself is surrounded by a wall.

But hours later, at a townhall event, the real estate tycoon heaped praise on the pontiff.

Donald Trump has since called the pope “a wonderful guy” and says he would meet with him whenever Pope Francis wants. When I heard that, I could only think of the fact that Pope Francis has steadfastly refused all public calls to open the Vatican’s Holocaust files and bank records from World War II. While on a visit to Mexico, the Pope was asked about Trump’s draconian immigration proposals – mass deportations, removal of American citizens who are children of undocumented immigrants, and the construction of a massive border wall. “The bottom line is that we have to have a border, we have to have security”.

Pope Francis believes Donald Trump “is not Christian” because his immigration views consist of building walls instead of bridges, as he said late Wednesday night. “In no way was this a personal attack, nor an indication of how to vote”, said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi. But Italian officials have insisted they have no knowledge of any credible threat to the Vatican or the pope.

John Carr, who served for more than two decades as the social justice director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and for years helped write the bishops’ election-year guide, said the pope is having some impact on American political life. “They know jobs are going to come, and I’m bringing the jobs back”.

“I don’t think the Pope really understood, in terms of the crime problem and the problems of illegal immigration”. “Whether I am a pawn – well, maybe, I don’t know”.

“Adding to the things that he’s said over time that have not just offended, but outraged one group or another, if you put all those things together and put all those people together, eventually, he’s going to run out of support”, Holder said.

But it seems pretty clear, upon a close reading of the pope’s comments, that he is much more concerned about what is in Trump’s heart – and whether it aligns with Christian virtue – than with the physical act of constructing a wall.

In the Republican primary race, Trump has threatened to revoke birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized migrants, according to the Washington Post, and build a multibillion-dollar wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. One of Trump’s Republican rivals, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, was charitable towards him in remarks addressing the contretemps.

On his return flight from Mexico back to Rome, a reporter asked the Pope whether USA citizens who are Roman Catholic should vote for someone like Trump.

Pope Francis’ remarks of “building bridges”, not walls, echo his comments in the past on the topic of climate change.