via youtube.com

Pope Francis was on a flight back from Mexico when he criticized Donald Trump’s immigration policy, saying the GOP candidate “is not a Christian.” Shortly after, Trump fired back by calling the pontiff a “pawn” and his statements “disgraceful.”

via abcnews.com

The Pope’s actual statement was a brief, delicate reference to Trump. It touches on much more then immigration policy, though Francis did use it in the context of the businessman’s plan to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump vs Denial

Meanwhile, the Republican front-runner’s reaction was anything but delicate. According to Trump, the leader of the Christian Church has no right to question his faith. He went on to call the statement disgraceful.

guim.co.uk

Trump then accused the Mexican government of “using the Pope as a pawn.” He would later explain that he meant they “misinformed” Francis to depict him as “not a good guy“. Apparently, Trump knows about an agreement between the drug cartels and Mexican government aimed to stop him from becoming President.

He also described the church as weak, though he managed to blame that on Obama. And he finished off by promising to revive the Church and save Christians from ISIS when he’s elected President.

How does all of that fit together?

This statement came from, very possibly, the future President of the United States. So, it might seem like obnoxious nonsense but there has to be some truth to it, right? Let’s examine his main points. Okay, so:

Mexican cartels paid Mexico to influence Pope Francis, making him think that Donald Trump isn’t Christian.
Let’s forget about the part about drug traffickers. Mexican gov. officials have always been unanimous in their dislike of the G.O.P. front-runner. How about if they brainwashed Francis and gave Trump bad intel? It’s possible.
The businessman’s name wasn’t mentioned
brainyquote.com

by Francis , in order to disguise his disgraceful insult as an age-old proverbial saying.
Oh, hold on. Actually, it was a Christian adaption of an ancient saying, first recorded by a world-famous historic icon.
The Pope has no right to question what makes someone Christian. Trump is obviously a man of God, since he’s willing to fight ISIS and help the Church if he becomes president.
Well, according to biblical law, Fransis is the single Catholic figure on the planet who’s judgement can’t be argued with. Plus, there’s nothing Christian about Trump’s “solution” to the ISIS problem. It’s “love thy neighbour,” not “bomb the hell out of them.”

via youtube.com

#MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain

erictrumpfoundation.com

Though there was no actual response from Francis, the ‘fight’ was far from over. One of Trump’s political advisers, Dan Scavino, decided to jump in. He Tweeted that the Pope’s comment was “amazing, considering Vatican City is 100% surrounded by wall.”

Scavino never explained how that relates to immigration or the meaning of “building walls and not building bridges.”

But even most of the people who follow Trump’s minions on Twitter had more then enough common sense to call him out on the fallacy. Scavino’s Tweet did go viral, though in not the way he’d like to see. #MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain gave us another outlet for Trump jokes. Here are some of our favorites:

twimg.com

“I own golf carts better looking than that pope-mobile. So low class. Sad! #MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain”
-@AlishaS

“He wasn’t even born in Vatican City, how can he be Pope? I’m just saying we should be looking into this #MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain”
-@Travon

“My sources tell me Pope’s real name is Jorge, not Francis. Born in Argentina, not Rome. Ted Cruz of popes! #MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain”
-@anastasiakeely

“WINNERS HAVE TOWERS LOSERS HAVE BASILICAS #MakeTheVaticanGreatAgain”
@rehawes

“I don’t like fighting the Pope” – Trump

After a day of perpetual embarrassment, Trump decided to cut his losses. During an evening interview with CNN, he tried to brush the incident off saying he “wouldn’t describe it as a fight.” Okay, so he did describe it as a fight during that same interview. But Trump won some points with moderate Republicans by proving he’s able to accept defeat and move on.