--- title: Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis For Mexico Border Visit description: Donald Trump took aim at Pope Francis on Thursday, criticizing him for planning to visit areas near the U.S. border with Mexico canonical: https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-12T00:48:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:01:32.047Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis For Mexico Border Visit og:description: "I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has" og:url: https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92705b50ba1afd4b/69887d640a4a22e3479c8589/pope-francis-donald-trump-mexico1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Preparation Ahead Pope Francis Mexico Visit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis For Mexico Border Visit twitter:description: "I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92705b50ba1afd4b/69887d640a4a22e3479c8589/pope-francis-donald-trump-mexico1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis for Mexico Border Visit  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 12, 2016 12:48 AM UTC  Posters welcoming Pope Francis are seen near the esplanade where Pope Francis will give a mass for 300 thousand people ahead the visit of Pope Francis to Mexico at El Caracol on Feb. 11. Posters welcoming Pope Francis are seen near the esplanade where Pope Francis will give a mass for 300 thousand people ahead the visit of Pope Francis to Mexico at El Caracol on Feb. 11.Hector Vivas—LatinContent/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 12, 2016 12:48 AM UTC Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump [took aim at Pope Francis on Thursday](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexican-border-219154), criticizing him for [planning to visit](http://time.com/4216331/pope-francis-mexico-visit-cartel-drug-war/) areas near the U.S. border with Mexico. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the Pope lacks an understanding of immigration in the United States, Politico reported. “So I think that the Pope is a very political person. I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has. I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,” Trump said. “Mexico got him to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they’re making a fortune and we’re losing.” Trump has famously said [he will build a wall](http://time.com/4178881/donald-trump-campaign-speeches/) along the border if elected and require Mexico to pay for it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis for Mexico Border Visit","datePublished":"2016-02-12T00:48:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:01:32.047Z","description":"\"I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has\"","url":"https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92705b50ba1afd4b/69887d640a4a22e3479c8589/pope-francis-donald-trump-mexico1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92705b50ba1afd4b/69887d640a4a22e3479c8589/pope-francis-donald-trump-mexico1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Preparation Ahead Pope Francis Mexico Visit","caption":"Preparation Ahead Pope Francis Mexico Visit","creditText":"Hector Vivas—LatinContent/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4218748/donald-trump-pope-francis-mexico-border/","name":"Donald Trump Criticizes Pope Francis for Mexico Border Visit"}}]}] ```