The Pope has been critical of President Trump’s treatment of immigrants. But some American Catholics think the Pope needs to slow his roll. Yes, some Catholics are trying to explain to the Pope why God believes in the so-called “extreme vetting” of immigrants to the United States.
Twitter is a great equalizer of sorts when it comes to public opinion. Movie stars, elected officials, and even the Pope are more accessible than ever. We get to hear their thoughts, often in an unfiltered way. And it’s a two-way street. If you think the Pope is wrong about something, all you need to do is tell him.
Which is precisely what happened today when many people took to Twitter and told Pope Francis that even God believes in extreme vetting. Seriously.
“How often in the Bible the Lord asks us to welcome migrants and foreigners, reminding us that we too are foreigners!” the Pope tweeted from the official Pontifex Twitter account.
But Mike Oberhill, like many other Christian Twitter users, was quick to correct the Pope.
“@Pontifex even God believed extreme vetting was a good thing. Moses didn’t get into the promised land,” Oberhill, presumably an American Catholic based on his tweets, responded.
Others had similar sentiments to the Pope’s plea for Americans to welcome immigrants.
“@Pontifex love you, but we in America are not against immigration..goal is to have ability to vet immigrants to identify those who wish harm,” Twitter user Paul Anthony Roberts tweeted at Pope Francis.
“@Pontifex Go ahead and see Christianity destroyed like it has been in the Islamic lands,” another Twitter user shot back at the Pope.
American Catholics tend to be a bit more conservative than Catholics in other parts of the world. As just one example, they break with Catholic teaching in some pretty fundamental ways like capital punishment. Roughly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe in the death penalty, something that the Catholic church is explicitly against.
But President Trump and his band of followers have never had much respect for the Pope. And it’s actually incredible that any American Catholics would bother to support Donald Trump if they truly believed that Pope Francis was their spiritual leader.
Here’s what Trump said about the Pope back in February of last year, after the Pope had criticized the idea of a wall between the US and Mexico:
If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.
The Mexican government and its leadership has made many disparaging remarks about me to the Pope, because they want to continue to rip off the United States, both on trade and at the border, and they understand I am totally wise to them. The Pope only heard one side of the story - he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States. He doesn’t see how Mexican leadership is outsmarting President Obama and our leadership in every aspect of negotiation.
For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as President I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with our current President. No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith. They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant.
So, yeah. Trump and the Pope haven’t exactly been on great terms, even before this most recent dust-up. President Trump has yet to respond to the Pope on Twitter, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.
In the meantime, plenty of American Catholics will continue to lecture the pope about what the bible says about immigrants. Because Twitter is the best. Thank God for Twitter.