Trump spars with Pope as S. Carolina primary looms
CHAPIN, S.C. • Donald Trump responded forcefully Thursday to comments from Pope Francis that anyone who wants to build a border wall isn’t a Christian, saying a religious leader questioning a person’s faith is “disgraceful.”
Just two days before the primary in heavily Christian South Carolina, the Republican front-runner for president, who has promised to build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally, accused the Mexican government of using Francis as a “pawn” and said the leader of the Roman Catholic Church “only heard one side of the story.”
The Pope made his comments en route home from Mexico, hours after he prayed at the Mexico- U. S. border for migrants who died trying to reach the United States. When asked about Trump’s promise to build a wall, Francis said: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”
Not having heard Trump’s border plans independently, Francis said he’d “give him the benefit of the doubt.” But he added, “I’d just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way.”
Trump s aid t he Pope should wish that he is elected to the White House: “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,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Trump went on to say that “No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or 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.”
The back- and- forth came as Republicans face South Carolina’s high- stakes primary on Saturday.
Trump holds a 19- point lead over Ted Cruz among those likely to vote in the Republican primary, with Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush locked in a close race for t hird, and John Kasich showing no signs of a surge. A Bloomberg Politics poll conducted Feb. 13-16 shows the billionaire dominating the field across virtually all demographic groups, and doing even better than Cruz among those who say they are very conservative or evangelical Christian. On nearly every question about challenges faced by the next president, Trump scores the highest. Overall, Trump garnered 36 per cent, followed by Cruz at 16 per cent.
The Democratic race remains close, with Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders facing off in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.
Rubio has secured the coveted endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as he tries to win over mainstream Republicans.
Addressing the Pope’s comments, Rubio said Thursday Vatican City has a right to control its borders and so does the United States. Rubio previously favoured a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally, but now says border security is the priority.
Rubio, a Catholic, added that he has “tremendous respect and admiration” for the Pope and “there’s no nation on earth that’s more compassion on immigration than we are.”
Cruz is trying to rally the Republican Party’s most conservative wing. More than 300 pastors and other religious leaders in South Carolina Thursday endorsed him for president. Cruz’s win in the Iowa caucuses was fuelled by a similar coalition of evangelical support.
On the campaign trail, a senior Trump adviser took to Twitter to push back at the Pope: “Amazing comments from the Pope — considering Vatican City is 100% surrounded by massive walls,” said Dan Scavino, his social media director, posting an image of Vatican City and noting that it is surrounded by a wall.
Jerry Falwell Jr., president of evangelical Liberty University and a supporter of Trump, said the Pope had crossed a line. “Jesus never intended to give instructions to political leaders on how to run a country,” Falwell said.