Pope Francis has a gift for staying on firm Catholic ground while making pointed comments about an unnamed Donald Trump:
The pope didn’t refer to President Donald Trump in his comments. But at the end of his audience, he noted that Wednesday marked both the church’s day of reflection for young victims of human trafficking and coincidentally the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita.
She was a 19th-century Sudanese slave who, after migrating to Europe, became a nun. Sudan is one of the seven countries on the U.S. travel ban list.
“In the social and civil context as well, I appeal not to create walls but to build bridges,” he said. “To not respond to evil with evil. To defeat evil with good, the offense with forgiveness. A Christian would never say ‘you will pay for that.’ Never.
“That is not a Christian gesture. An offense you overcome with forgiveness. To live in peace with everyone.”
Building bridges not walls, not responding to evil with evil, defeating evil with good, forgiveness … none of these are just responses to Trump. They’re all things a pope could be talking about because they’re the right thing to do. But when Trump is out there being Trump, they take on a whole new meaning. Especially when paired with talk of a nun from one of the countries hit by Trump’s Muslim ban.
You might think this would give pause to some of Trump’s so-called Christian supporters, but they’ve obviously decided that the Republican Party is more important than forgiveness or defeating evil with good. And Steve Bannon is already taking aim at Pope Francis.