Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump called Pope Francis “disgraceful” and said the leader of the Catholic Church would want Trump to be president “if and when” the Islamic State attacks the Vatican.
Earlier on Thursday, the pope said someone “who thinks only about building walls” instead of building bridges is not Christian after being asked about Trump. In a statement released shortly after the comments were published, Trump struck back at the religious leader for calling his faith into question.
“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,” Trump said. “No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”
In addition to calling the pope’s statements disgraceful, Trump also said Francis would rue having someone else in office.
Trump said the grand goal of the Islamic State is to eventually attack Vatican City and the pope would wish Trump were president when that happened.
“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 because this would not have happened,” Trump said.
Trump added that the Mexican government poisoned Trump’s name with the pope and the country wants to “continue to rip off the United States” and that Trump knows of Mexico’s shenanigans.
“They understand I am totally wise to them,” Trump said. “The pope only heard one side of the story — he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States. He doesn’t see how Mexican leadership is outsmarting President Obama and our leadership in every aspect of negotiation.”
