Donald Trump slammed Pope Francis Thursday for questioning his religious convictions despite only days ago questioning the faith of GOP rival Ted Cruz.
“For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” Trump said in his reaction to Pope Francis’ claim that “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges is not Christian.”
Less than a week ago, however, Trump asked millions of voters how Cruz could consider himself an evangelical. And he has repeated variations of that argument during his campaign rallies and interviews this week.
How can Ted Cruz be an Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2016
Trump also attacked Republican rival Ben Carson’s faith when the retired neurosurgeon was surging in Iowa last November.
In his autobiography, Gifted Hands, Carson says his relationship with God began when he was much younger and found himself alone in a bathroom for hours after he’d attempted to stab a friend of his. In those moments, Carson claimed he prayed for help in dealing with his temper.
“And the people of Iowa believe him,” Trump, conveying his astonishment, said during a two hour-long campaign rally three months ago. “Give me a break. Give me a break. It doesn’t happen that way.”
“Don’t be fools,” he told the crowd at the time.
He later questioned Carson’s affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventist church. “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 it.”
