Pope Francis started out by saying,
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian."
Asked specifically about Trump, Pope Francis said,
"I say only that "This man is not Christian if he has said things like that," Francis said. "We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt."
I can fault Pope Francis for ambiguity, for equivocation --- and even for insinuation --- but the record shows he did not initiate an attack on Trump. Despite being egged-on by the press, he chose to give Trump "the benefit of the doubt."
In this day and age of the worldwide deceiving left, including much of the media, you have to go find the full quotes of what the popes say in order to discover how they misused his quotes in order to use it to somehow advance their agenda. The dishonesty from these medias has become the norm in these cases so it's best to find the full quotes yourself in order to find out what he really said. I did the same as you and read the full quotes.
That being said, with Mexico's far more restrictive immigration policy and, of course, the wall surrounding the Vatican, I don't understand why he would say these things. The US is far better at building these bridges with nations, than Mexico is towards us.
Both my grandparents escaped a full blown statist Mexico 100 years ago, ten years before the Cristeros War broke out, but I doubt not much has changed there as statism still exists which only produces misery and that is why so many try to come here. The huge problem is the Mexican government but yet we get chided for wanting to build a wall and really no focus on the statism that exists there that causes so many problems for its citizens.
I do understand he gave Trump the benefit of the doubt but it gave the left so much ammo to really use against the Pope and Trump. What Trump said about protecting The Vatican from ISIS if he were president, rang so true with me as a Catholic. He understands The Vatican would be the ultimate prize for ISIS and really the left in this world too as they despise Christianity.
We are witnessing a great evil trying to take over this world and will stop at nothing to get what it wants. I pray for both, Pope Francis and Donald Trump so they do get it right and that people see through the deceptions of the left. I do like how the Pope says to pray for him after every mass, the Pope and all of us needs God's guidance now more than ever.
CGato
I pray for Pope Francis every day, that God will lead the Church by his goodness and protect the Church from his foolishness. I pray ardently, at the Consecration of the Mass, that God will free this Pope from all the snares of deception, and give him the gift to be able to speak the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
Papal diplomacy has never been under the "gift" of infallibility --- we all know that --- and a great deal of harm can be done by a pope who just doesn't know what he's talking about.
This is nothing new in our 2000 year history. Getting deep into the history is a good thing to do. After the initial shock, it steadies one.