ROME -- Speaking to reporters on his trip back from Mexico, Pope Francis spoke out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and some of his policies, saying that they are “Not Christian.”  This comment came with particular reference to the wall that the Republican candidate says he would build between the United States and Mexico if he wins the presidential seat in the upcoming elections.  Trump was quick to respond, calling the Pope’s comments “disgraceful.”

 These statements all came from on board the Papal aircraft, as the pontiff was travelling back from an emotional trip to Mexico where he had criticised policies on both sides of the fence in Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday, during his mass.  He called the “forced migration” of thousands of Central Americans a “human tragedy” and “humanitarian crisis”.  He also urged for compassion for immigrants fleeing chaos, poverty and war, rallying against immigration policies that force many underground and into the hands of drug gangs and human smugglers.

 The pope’s comments on Trump came after the presidential candidate spoke about the religious leader in an interview last week saying, “The pope is a very political person.  I think he doesn’t understand the problems our country has.  I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico.”  When asked for his comments on these statement, the head of the Catholic Church made light of the situation by saying, “Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined human beings as ‘animal politicus’. So at least I am a human person.”

 In the same interview Trump had said that Francis was “a pawn” who had been fed misinformation by the Mexican government.  On this the pope said. “Am I pawn?  Well, maybe.  I will leave that up to your judgment.  But a person who only thinks about making walls, wherever it may be, and not building bridges is not a Christian person.  This is not in the Gospel.”  When asked however whether he thought Christians in America ought to vote for Trump, the pope stepped off, saying he was “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 him the benefit of the doubt.”

 Trump’s reaction came shortly afterwards in a political rally when discussing the Islamic State. “Their primary goal is to get the Vatican.  If and when the Vatican is attacked,” he said, “the pope would only wish and have prayed that Donald Trump would have been elected president.”  Earlier in his speech, however, he had said, “I have a lot of respect for the Pope.  He has a lot of personality and I think he’s doing a very good job, he has a lot of energy.”

 Trump’s anti-immigration stance is a central part of his campaign – he wants to deport 11 million undocumented migrants and said Muslims should be temporarily barred from coming to the U.S., along with his proposed eight billion dollar wall along the border with Mexico, for which he claims he would make Mexico pick up the tab.  “You have people coming in, and I’m not just saying Mexicans – I’m talking about people from all over that are killers and rapists, and they’re coming into this country,” Trump told Jake Tapper, for CNN, last June.

 Other topics under discussion included the Church’s view on contraception, on which Francis commented that in light of the Zika virus, which particularly affects pregnant women, the Church should make an exception.  He made a sharp distinction between abortion and birth control however, calling abortion “a crime, an absolute evil,” whilst he cited Pope Paul VI’s decision in the 1960s, in the face of the dangers of rape for nuns in the Belgian Congo, to allow the nuns to use contraceptives.

 “Avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil,” the pope said, “In certain cases, as in this one, and as in the one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear.  I would also urge doctors to do their utmost to find vaccines against these mosquitos that carry this disease.”

 Trump is aiming for the November presidential elections and has currently taken a more than 20-point lead over U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, with his campaign appearing to thrive off the continuing controversies that he creates.  Trump’s last comment on the matter was that the pope has an “awfully big wall” himself at the Vatican.  Catholic priests retaliated saying that while that may be true, the Vatican City also has an awfully big door.

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