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Topics: Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Politics
Jess Hardiman
Topics: Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Politics
The death of Pope Francis has sent shockwaves through the globe, with thousands flocking to St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican to pay their respects ahead of this weekend’s funeral.
A number of famous faces confirmed earlier this week that they’d be in attendance as the late pope is laid to rest, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Then, of course, there’s US President Donald Trump – a man that hasn’t been hugely in favour with Francis in the past.
"He was a good man, worked hard and loved the world," the American leader said in the wake of Francis’ death on Monday.
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The late pope, who was 88 when he passed away, was an outspoken critic of some of Trump’s policies, which he said were ‘not Christian’.
Before his first term in office, Trump had famously vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Speaking to press at the time, Francis said bluntly: “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."
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Shortly before his latest inauguration earlier this year, Francis also lashed out at similar plans to carry out mass deportations.
"If it is true, it will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill for the imbalance,” he said.
“It won't do. This is not the way to solve things."
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In February, he also wrote an open letter to US bishops, where he described the new president’s plans as a ‘crisis’ for the nation.
“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” he wrote.
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
While Francis acknowledged the country’s need to ‘defend itself and keep communities safe’, he felt 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’ damaged the ‘dignity of many men and women, and of entire families’, while also putting them in a state of ‘particular vulnerability and defenselessness’.
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"This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized,” he said, adding: “Development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”