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The Associated Press
Aboard the papal plane

Pope on Trump: Anyone who wants border walls isn't Christian

Pope Francis and Donald Trump
Pope Francis inserted himself into the Republican presidential race on Wednesday. The Pope suggested that Donald Trump "is not Christian" because of the harshness of his campaign promises to build walls and deport immigrants.
Lisa Maree Williams | Getty Images, left, and Frederick M. Brown | Getty Images

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Updated: 12:35 p.m. | Posted: 11:15 a.m.

Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith.

Trump, a leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has said that if elected, he will build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally. The Pope's comments en route home from Mexico came hours after he prayed at the Mexican border for people who died trying to reach the United States.

Asked what he thought of Trump's pledge, Francis said: "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel."

Not having heard Trump's border plans independently, Francis said he'd "give the benefit of the doubt." But he added: "I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that."

Trump, a Presbyterian, shot back within minutes.

"For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful," he said at a campaign stop in South Carolina, which holds a key primary on Saturday. "I am proud to be a Christian and as president I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened."

He also said the Mexican government has disparaged him to the Pope and separately invoked the Islamic State group, saying that if it attacks the Vatican, "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 last week said Francis' plans to pray at the border showed he is a political figure being exploited by the Mexican government.

Asked if he felt he was being used as a pawn of Mexico, Francis said he didn't know.

"I'll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people," he said.

He seemed quite pleased to hear that Trump had called him a "political" figure, noting that Aristotle had described the human being as a "political animal."