Pope Francis’s suggestion that Donald Trump was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration was not a personal attack on the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Friday.
Lombardi told Vatican Radio that the pope’s comments, made to reporters during a flight back from Mexico in response to a specific question on Trump, were simply an affirmation of his long-standing belief that migrants should be helped rather than shut off behind walls.
“In no way was this a personal attack, nor an indication of how to vote,” Lombardi said.
Trump, the longtime Republican party front-runner in opinion polls, dismissed the pope as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He has said that if elected president in November, he would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep out immigrants who enter illegally.
Lombardi said the pope believed people “should build bridges, not walls”. He added: “This is his general view, which is very consistent with courageously following the indications of the gospel on offering welcome and solidarity.”
Pope Francis forcefully injected himself into the US presidential campaign on Thursday, assailing Republican candidate Donald Trump’s views on US immigration as “not Christian” in a sign of growing international concern at the billionaire businessman’s election prospects.
Trump struck back. No stranger to controversy, the longtime party front-runner in national opinion polls dismissed the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He said he was a proud Christian.
Francis told reporters during a free-wheeling conversation on his flight home from a visit to Mexico: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug-runners across the United States’ southern border.
