Donald Trump has a war of words with Pope

The comments from Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump and Pope Francis hurled at each other, has escalated  into a war of words after the billionaire called the pontiff’s criticism ‘disgraciful’.  The Pope had earlier said that the US presidential candidate cannot claim to be a Christian after Trump vowed to build a border wall to keep out immigrants.

"Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," the pontiff told journalists during his return journey from a trip to Mexico in response to a question about Trump's anti-immigrant stance.

"Vote, don't vote, I won't meddle. But I simply say, if he says these things, this man is not a Christian," he said.

His remarks drew swift condemnation from the outspoken Republican presidential candidate, who described them as "disgraceful".

"For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful," Trump said in a statement that he read out to a crowd at a campaign stop in South Carolina, which holds its primary vote on Saturday.

"I am proud to be a Christian and as president I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened."

The comments framed an extraordinary public exchange between a candidate and the leader of the Roman Catholic church in the run up to a US presidential election.

Trump has gained in popularity by claiming Mexico is sending criminals and rapists over to the United States, and last week he accused the pope of visiting the border between the two countries at the bidding of the Mexican government.

"Am I an instrument of the Mexican government? I leave that to your judgement, to the people to judge," Francis said.

Trump, the brash real estate tycoon from New York, has promised to end illegal immigration by building a wall along the Mexican border.

His first TV ad, which was unveiled on Monday, uses footage that shows migrants fleeing Morocco to the tiny Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2014.

"Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," the pontiff told journalists during his return journey from Mexico, in response to a question about Trump's anti-immigrant stance.

Trump's reaction was notable for its tone against a global religious figure.

"If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's 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, referring to the Islamic State extremist group controlling wide swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Trump said Mexican authorities told the pope only "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," Trump said.

"They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant."

The Mexican-US border stretches more than 3,100 kilometres (1,950 miles), but only around a third is marked by high-security fencing.

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... They're sending people that have lots of problems... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people," he said in June. 

Photo: telegraph.co.uk