Pope spokesman clarifies Trump comment

The Hill ^ | 2/19/016 | Lisa Hagen

[ironman]

A spokesperson for Pope Francis clarified the pontiff's criticism of Donald Trump's plan to build a border wall, saying that the remark wasn't "a personal attack."

"The Pope said what we already know, if we followed his teaching and positions: we shouldn't build walls, but bridges," the spokesperson said in a statement, according to CNBC. "It's his generic view, coherent with the nature of solidarity from the gospel."

"This wasn't, in any way, a personal attack or an indication on who to vote for," the spokesperson continued. "The Pope has clearly said he didn't want to get involved in the electoral campaign in the US and also said that he said what he said on the basis of what he was told [about Trump], hence giving him the benefit of the doubt."

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Notice from the Vatican Office of Translation

Before "poor translation" is made the scapegoat of this latest statements by our Pope , we would like to post this important announcement to the faithful worldwide.

DO NOT BLAME US!!! We do not tell our Great Papa what to say. He says it and we try to figure out what it means in Italian, let alone all the languages of the world!

Frankly, whatever you think he said, or whatever you read that he said, or whatever is reported that he said... well, it's all wrong! He never said it!

We are not charged with perfection in translation. In fact, none of us speak a second language at all!

This may surprise many readers of this notice, so I will describe our role here at Vatican Central... or VeeCee, as we call it.

First, just months ago, we were all homeless on the Streets of Rome. The translation office is a jobs program for homeless Italians. Through the kindness of the Great leaders at VeeCee, 8 of us were recruited to a very fulfilling job with benefits. Many of us previously used Google Translate, so we had every qualification needed. Please note, our instructions are to get the message out fast. You may have noticed our Great Pope speaks "off the cuff" quite frequently, or as we say here in VeeCee, "between bites of pasta."

For this reason, we are not charged with accuracy, but with speed. Blinding speed. And between you and me, we are fast. We don't like to miss meals. Done is done. Good enough, is good enough.

With this in mind, please try to speak kindly of us so that we can continue in this important role.

Sincerely,

Luigi, Antonio, Giuseppe, Michael, Maria, Giovanna, Francesco, & Concetta

[TexasCajun]

Now he needs to apologize to Trump for criticizing his faith.

Should Trump apologize to Ted Cruz & Ben Carson?

"How can Ted Cruz be an Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?"

"Just remember this - you gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, OK?"

"I'm Presbyterian," Trump said. "Boy, that's down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don't know about. I just don't know about."

Does he have to, no, but I'd respect him if he said, "In light of current events, I want to apologize to Ted & Ben if it seemed I was questioning their faith."

Done, move on. ...big brownie points.

[pgkdan]

Kinda like Barry.

Exactly like barry...that's why I call him pope obama.

[RoosterRedux]

What you suggest would be a very smart move.

[livius]

Having to be the Pope’s clean-up man would truly be a miserable job.

The Pope ranges from incoherent and addled sounding to spiteful and crafty, and little that he says makes sense. And when it does, it’s the wrong sense.

[AustinBill]

Papal backpeddler does seem to be growth job description under this pontiff.

[Ancesthntr]

Looks like that guy stepped on his dick, and he’s (rather unsuccessfully) trying to back away from what he said.

[kalee]

They must use Google to translate.

[Jane Austen]

Odd how the Pope signaled out Trump. The other candidates (Bush, Kasich, and Rubio all Roman Catholics) have also stated, after Trump proposed it, that they favor a wall. Nevertheless, the Pope made no reference to them. Seems like interference with our election process.

[uncitizen]

The globalists, the Pope and obama most notably, think we are stupid and don’t see what they’re doing. They’re getting daring and now they should see we aren’t as dumb as they thought. They’re being forced to eat their own hateful words.

[Jane Austen]

Yes.

[VideoDoctor]

What a crock of crap.

The pope speaks and then has to have people explain WHAT he meant.

What a crock of crap.

[piusv]

He and his leftist cohorts are dishonestly misrepresenting Catholic teaching.

And THIS is the real issue .. or should be the real issue for Catholics. Even if Francis said this about Trump, that would merely be a sin. But promoting falsehood as Catholic teaching, that's a whole nother ball of wax.