Los Angeles Times
By David Lauter and Noah Bierman
February 18, 2016
When
two of the most visible figures on the international stage, Pope
Francis and Donald Trump, exchanged sharp words over immigration
Thursday, an extraordinary election
year took another dramatic twist.
The
long-distance volley, impelled, like so much of the campaign, by
Trump’s language on Mexican immigration, created a moment that actually
merited the overused label
“unprecedented.”
Popes
have often commented on other countries’ politics. But no pope has as
pointedly remarked on a central issue in a U.S. presidential campaign as
Francis did to reporters
on his plane back to the Vatican after his trip to Mexico.
“A
person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and
not building bridges, is not Christian,” the pope said, in response to a
question about Trump’s
oft-repeated vow to build a wall along the Mexican border. “That is not
in the Gospel,” he said, according to an English translation of his
remarks released by the Vatican.
Pope
Francis suggested Thursday that Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he
wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately
fired back, saying it
is "disgraceful" for a religious leader to question a person's faith.
And no leading presidential candidate has so sharply criticized a major religious figure as Trump did in reply.
“For
a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” Trump
said in a statement that he read aloud at a campaign appearance in
Kiawah Island, S.C. He also
suggested the Mexican government had manipulated the pope, and called
himself a “good Christian.”
“If
and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which, as everyone knows, is
ISIS’ ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only
wished and prayed that
Donald Trump would have been president,” Trump said, using an acronym
for the Islamic State militant group.
As
with previous controversies involving Trump, the long-distance exchange
with Pope Francis dominated the campaign news cycle, drawing attention
to him and draining it
from rival Republican candidates two days before a critical primary
here. In that way, the exchange once again demonstrated the New York
billionaire’s unrivaled ability to use controversy for maximum political
advantage.
Sen.
Marco Rubio of Florida, for example, had hoped to have one full day to
bask in the endorsement of the state’s popular GOP governor, Nikki
Haley, which helped boost
him in some polls into second place here. Instead, he spent significant
time responding to questions about Trump and, in the end, supporting
his rival.
“I
haven’t seen the context of the Holy Father’s statement,” Rubio, who is
Roman Catholic, initially said. Later, in a CNN interview, he defended
the idea of a border
wall, saying it “is not just about immigrants,” but also about
“potentially, terrorists crossing that border, not to mention the drugs
that are coming across that border and the human trafficking that's
occurring.”
Former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is also Catholic, told reporters he regarded
the pope as his “spiritual leader” but demurred when asked whether
Francis was correct to
question whether Trump is Christian.
“His
Christianity is between him and his creator,” Bush said of Trump, who
is Presbyterian and has made a show of attending church a handful of
times since he began campaigning.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, speaking at a CNN town hall in South Carolina, said, “Put me down in the pro-pope column.”
A
member of the Anglican Church in North America, an offshoot of the
Episcopal Church, he appeared to side with Trump when he said, "We have a
right to build a wall.”
But, he added, “There are too many walls between us.”
Most
of Trump’s rivals declined to fight with him over immigration, which
has proven highly combustible and has formed the center of Trump’s
campaign. His call for a border
wall draws loud cheers. Last week, he began airing a new TV ad claiming
credit for forcing other candidates to talk about it.
Moreover,
while the pope enjoys widespread popularity in the U.S., his standing
is lowest among groups who like Trump the most: Francis has more
popularity among Democrats
than Republicans and more liberals than conservatives, although
majorities in each of those groups view him favorably.
This
fall, when the pope visited the U.S., about 8 in 10 Democrats polled
said they viewed him favorably, the Pew Research Center found. Among
Republicans the share was
smaller, a bit more than 6 in 10. Nearly 4 in 10 liberals said Francis
had made them feel more positive about the Catholic Church; among
conservatives, 2 in 10 said so, the survey found.
Both
here and in Nevada, where Trump has begun airing his immigration-themed
ad in advance of Tuesday’s Republican caucuses, his supporters, both
prominent and not, strongly
defended him. Some criticized Francis for getting involved.
“Jesus
never intended to give instructions to political leaders on how to run a
country,” said Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, who
has often called
for basing public policy on Christian principles. Falwell, a Trump
supporter, made his remarks in an interview on CNN.
“Tell
the pope to take a hike,” said Mike Price, 61, a schoolteacher
attending a rally in this town near the North Carolina border.
“It's none of his business if we want to build a wall,” added Price, who was deciding between Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
In
Las Vegas, a casino worker who would give only his first name, Jay,
because he feared his employer did not want him talking about politics
on the job, also proclaimed
his support for the candidate.
“I'd
vote for Trump. He speaks his mind. Why should he have to apologize?”
said Jay, a Republican who was raised Catholic. The pope should stay out
of American politics,
he said.
“What are you sticking your nose in there for?” he said. “This really isn't your business.”
Trump said he expected his remarks and the pope's were “probably going to be all over the world.”
“Who the hell cares?” he added. “I don't care. I don't care because we have to stop illegal immigration.”
Francis' words came at the end of a six-day tour of Mexico that culminated in a Mass at the border.
Asked
about Trump's pledge to build a wall and his insistence on deporting
the roughly 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the pope said
he did not intend to
meddle in the U.S. election. He would give Trump the benefit of the
doubt to determine whether he really said the things attributed to him,
he added.
“Whether
I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved
in that,” he said. “I say only that this man is not Christian if he has
said things like
that.”
Trump, characteristically, offered no caveats in his response.
“The
Mexican government and its leadership has made many disparaging remarks
about me to the pope because they want to continue to rip off the
United States,” he wrote.
“They are using the pope as a pawn.”
“No leader,” he said, “especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”
Bierman
reported from South Carolina and Lauter from Washington. Staff writers
Tracy Wilkinson in Washington, Seema Mehta in South Carolina and Kate
Linthicum and Michael
Finnegan in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
A transcript of the pope's remarks was released by the Vatican. Here is the full question and answer:
Q:
Today you spoke a lot and eloquently about the problem of immigrants.
On the other side of the border there is an electoral campaign that is
rather hard. One of the
candidates for the White House, Donald Trump, in a recent interview
said that you are a political man, and indeed perhaps a pawn of the
Mexican Government when it comes to the policy of immigration. He said
that if he were elected president he would build
a 2,500-km wall along the border. He wants to deport 11 million illegal
immigrants and, in that way separating families and so on. I would
therefore like to ask, first of all, what you think of those charges
against you, and if an American Catholic could vote
for a person like this?
A:
Thank God he said I am a politician because Aristotle defined the human
person as an 'animal politicus' [a political animal]. So 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 judgement 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 says things like that. We must see if he said
things in that way and in this I give the benefit
of the doubt.
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