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As Pope Francis begins his trip to Mexico, controversy is building over his planned Mass on Wednesday in Juarez, situated along the U.S.-Mexico border — with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leading the critics.
“I think that the Pope is a very political person,” Trump said Thursday in an interview on Fox Business Network.
“I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has,” Trump said. “I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico.”
“Mexico got him [Pope Francis] to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is,” Trump said. “They’re making a fortune and we’re losing.”
The Vatican is so far not engaging Trump in a round of verbal volleyball, but one Catholic leader implied the pope will be stirring the political pot.
“He will be calling on us to look with compassion on a group of people who have suffered terribly,” said Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Juarez. “And perhaps that will lead people to seek out some different solutions than are now being proposed.”
Pope Francis has already spoken out against border walls, calling them “monuments of exclusion.” He has also called for action to help Central American migrants.
In Mexico, few agreed with Trump.
“Donald Trump, I don’t care about you,” Ericka Araiza, 38, a lawyer, said Friday in Mexico City.
“The pope speaks from a moral authority, whether you are Catholic or not,” said Pedro Marmolejo. “His words are very powerful, they transcend (politics) and help awake people’s consciousness to see things in a different way. He comes here to illuminate the worth of everyone. It’s a universal message to respect our fellow human beings.“
In America, things were a little different.
“The pope comfortably lives in Vatican city, which is its own country by the way, and the borders are very closely guarded. There is a wall completely surrounding it and when he leaves, he is in a bullet-proof bubble Are we not seeing a double standard here?” commented Mark Wilson.
”Trump is absolutely right, the pope doesn’t realize all the bad people that come to this country to escape jail in their country, keep them in Mexico where they belong,” wrote Paula Jagodzinski.
As for The Donald himself, he continued to make immigration and Mexico themes of his campaign.
“So the president of Mexico, who is he? Oh, who cares,” Trump told 15,000 people in Tampa Friday night.
“The wall just got 10 feet higher and who’s going to pay for it — Mexico,” Trump said to cheers.
h/t: CNN
“Francis” is an anti-pope. He follows the masonic (jewish) doctrine of one world under satan.