No matter your politics, you have to give it to Donald Trump for pissing off Pope Francis. On this trip it doesn’t seem to take much though, the pope did yell at the crowd that was mobbing him.
If you haven’t heard about the pope and Trump, it goes something like this:
- Trump says he wants to build a wall to stop illegal immigration into the US from Mexico.
- Pope Francis says that it would be abhorrent to do such a thing, and then said that if someone did that they would not be a Christian.
- Trump responded by saying that Pope Francis is one to talk, because he hides behind a stone wall in the Vatican.
Well, at least that’s the general gist of the matter.
Why the pope said such a thing, I really don’t know. He does not have the power to excommunicate Trump, and the Catholic Church is no longer the catholic church. Ever since the Church split, about 1000 years ago, it hasn’t been universal, and that’s not to mention the Reformation that further split the Church 499 years ago.
I personally am ever feeling different things about faith, sometimes I’m more atheistic, other times agnostic, and then also Christian some other times. I grew up as a Lutheran of the Missouri Synod variety. My father started his second career as a pastor in his sixties. And I went through the confirmation process, and all that jazz, so I know a little bit about the Christian faith. From all of that, I must say that a Christian does not have to act like Christ to be a Christian, which I bet those pervert priests are betting on.
I know it probably seems fair, given Trump’s attacks on everyone, but the pope should be above it. If the pope enters the fray in such a way it makes him seem petty and unjust. The greatest thing that Pope Francis, and his forbearer John Paul II, have shown the world is that they can bridge gulfs in the world that none other could. John Paul II and the end of the Cold War, and Pope Francis and the American Cuban diplomatic relations. By prematurely jumping into this fight in such a negative way, the pope will ensure that he would have no sway with a Trump administration, and it shows the world that Pope Francis may not be the man to build bridges.
Photo by Gage Skidmore