Pope Francis and Donald Trump clashed for years on the treatment of migrants

President Donald Trump presented brief condolences on the death of Pope Francis on Monday, but the two men clashed several times, including as far as Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, how to treat migrants.

“He was a good man, worked hard and loved the world,” said Trump, making remarks in the roller of Easter Easter in the White House, where he announced that he had ordered that we ordered flags lowered to half of the staff in his honor.

Trump’s first response to the Pope’s death came in a short article on his conservative social media site earlier on Monday: “Rest in peace Pope Francis! May God bless him as well as all those who loved him!”

Tributes have been paid for leaders around the world, including the predecessors of Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Biden called Pope Francis “one of the most consecutive leaders of our time” and Obama complimented him as a “rare leader who made us want to be better people”.

As he had often done over the years, the day before his death, Pope Francis pleaded for migrants in his Easter Sunday address.

“How many contempt is sometimes stirred towards vulnerable, marginalized and migrants!” He said. “That day, I would like us to hope for again and to revive our confidence in others, including those who are different from ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing customs, lifestyles and unknown ideas.”

In 2016, Pope Francis criticized Trump about his commitment to build a wall along the American-Mexican border.

“A person who only thinks of building walls, wherever it is, and not to build bridges, is not Christian,” said Pope Francis during a trip to Mexico. “It’s not in the Gospel.”

Trump replied at the time that he was “proud to be Christian” and that no leader, in particular a religious leader, should have the right to question the religion or the faith of another man “. He also suggested that the Mexican government had used it as” pawn “and had convinced it to make these comments.

“If and when the Vatican is attacked by the Islamic State, which, like everyone else, is the ultimate Islamic state trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because it would not have happened,” said Trump.

This year, one day before Trump’s inauguration for his second term, Pope Francis commented on his plan to make mass deportations.

“If it is true, it will be a shame, because that makes the poor miserable who have not paid the bill for the imbalance. This will not do the trick. It is not the means to resolve things,” he said.

Then, in February, the Vatican published the text of a letter from Pope Francis to the American bishops, mainly concerning their work to help migrants.

“I closely followed the major crisis which takes place in the United States with the initiation of a mass deportation program,” wrote the Pope.

“The consciousness rightly cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure which tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of certain migrants with crime. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize the right of a country to defend itself and keep the communities away from those who have committed violent or serious crimes during the country or before,” he added.

“That said, the act of deporting people who, in many cases, have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damage the dignity of many men and women, and whole families, and place them in a state of particular vulnerability and defense,” he told us.

Vice-president JD Vance met Pope Francis on Sunday before the pontiff did what would be his last public appearance.

“I just looked at the death of Pope Francis. My heart goes to millions of Christians from around the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, although he was obviously very sick,” wrote Vance on X. The vice-president also shared a homily of the pope at the start of the coronavirus pandemic he found “.”.

The day before, Vance met the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. The Vatican press office described the discussion as “cordial”, although it said “that there was an exchange of opinions” on international politics “with particular attention to migrants, refugees and prisoners”.

Trump visited the Vatican in 2017 with the First Lady Melania Trump, and at the time described it as “the honor of a life to meet” with Pope Francis.

Trump announced on his social media platform on Monday afternoon that he and first lady Melania would go to Pope Francis funeral to Rome: “We are impatient to be there!”

Asked by a journalist earlier what he thought was Pope Francis’s heritage, Trump replied: “He was a very good man who loved the world, and he particularly loved people who had trouble. And that’s good.”