A holy war of sorts erupted today between Pope Francis and Donald Trump as the media reported that the pope suggested that Trump was not a good Christian because he wanted to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. "The Donald" snapped back that the pope had no right to question his faith, despite the fact that Trump has publicly questioned the faith of President Obama and other political opponents.
On an airplane heading back to Rome from Mexico, a reporter asked the pontiff about Trump's views on immigration, etc.:
Phil Pullella, Reuters: Today, you spoke very eloquently about the problems of immigration. On the other side of the border, there is a very tough electoral battle. One of the candidates for the White House, Republican Donald Trump, in an interview recently said that you are a political man and he even said that you are a pawn, an instrument of the Mexican government for migration politics. Trump said that if he’s elected, he wants to build 2,500 kilometers of wall along the border. He wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, separating families, etcetera. I would like to ask you, what do you think of these accusations against you and if a North American Catholic can vote for a person like this?
Pope Francis: Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as 'animal politicus.' At least I am a human person. 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. And then, 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. 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. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.
Notice, by the way,all the media coverage says that Pope Francis said Trump was not a good Christian - but, what he really said was that he didn't hear Trump's comments with his own ears and, therefore, doesn't know if Trump actually said it the way the reporter described. Therefore, he will give Trump the benefit of the doubt.
Not willing to let any attack go without retribution, even if it wasn't reported the way the Pontiff said it, Trump slammed the pope, not giving the Catholic leader the same benefit of the doubt he received.
Trump started with, "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."
"The Donald" finished his statement by scolding Pope Francis for questioning his faith:
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.
Mr. Trump's comment about it being disgraceful to question the faith of others reeks of hypocrisy because Trump has a history of questioning the faith of people he opposes.
The day before the pope made his statement, Donald Trump was at a South Carolina rally suggesting Ted Cruz (R-TX) was not a good Christian:
"I think [Cruz is] going to go down," Trump argued. "I think a guy can't be — I'm a Christian — but you know Ted holds up the Bible and then he lies about so many things."
That statement echoed what Trump said a week earlier: 'How can Ted Cruz be an Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?"
Even before the war of words broke out between the two, Trump was questioning Cruz's faith. In December, when the Texas senator began to move up in the Iowa polls, the billionaire said, "I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba."
Ted Cruz wasn't the only GOP opponent whose faith Trump questioned. At an October rally in Jacksonville, Florida, Trump didn't attack Ben Carson's belief in his faith - he went after the validity of the Seventh-Day Adventist faith itself:
I love Iowa. And, look, I don't have to say it, I'm Presbyterian. Can you believe it? Nobody believes I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. Boy, that's down the middle of the road folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don't know about. I just don't know about.
And, during a 2011 appearance on Bill O' Reilly's program, Trump suggested that President Obama was hiding his birth certificate that he suspected Obama was hiding it "maybe, it says he's a Muslim."
When it comes to respecting the faith of others, perhaps, Donald Trump should practice what he preaches.