--- title: GOP Candidates Weigh in on Trump's Feud With Pope Francis description: 2016 candidates are being asked to weigh in on a political spat they likely never thought would happen: Pope Francis vs. Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4229736/donald-trump-pope-francis-immigration-candidates/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-18T21:24:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:29.911Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Candidates Weigh in on Trump's Feud With Pope Francis og:description: 2016 candidates are being asked to weigh in on a political spat they likely never thought would happen: Pope Francis vs. Donald Trump. og:url: https://time.com/4229736/donald-trump-pope-francis-immigration-candidates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50f04871b01d822a/69887e3cab6d7797006a87f5/francis-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: francis-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Candidates Weigh in on Trump's Feud With Pope Francis twitter:description: 2016 candidates are being asked to weigh in on a political spat they likely never thought would happen: Pope Francis vs. Donald Trump. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50f04871b01d822a/69887e3cab6d7797006a87f5/francis-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republican Candidates Weigh in on Trump's Feud With Pope Francis > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 18, 2016 9:24 PM UTC  Pope francis in Vatican City on Dec. 14, 2015 (L); Donald Trump in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 12, 2016. Pope francis in Vatican City on Dec. 14, 2015 (L); Donald Trump in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 12, 2016. Getty Images (L); Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 18, 2016 9:24 PM UTC Presidential candidates are being asked to weigh in on a political spat they likely never thought would happen: Pope Francis vs. Donald Trump. [Pope Francis said Thursday](http://time.com/4229473/pope-francis-donald-trump-analysis/?xid=homepage) that Trump’s calls to build a wall along the border show he is not a Christian; Trump responded by calling the Pope “disgraceful.” Ben Carson has jumped to Trump’s defense. “I have spoken often about the need for faith and compassion in America,” Carson, a former neurosurgeon and devout Seventh Day Adventist, said in a statement. “However, enforcing our immigration laws is not in contradiction with love and kindness. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors. But as a nation, we must also defend our sovereignty and security.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he didn’t want to make a judgment on the issue until he had seen the Pope’s full comments, but said, “We’re a sovereign country, and we have a right to control who comes in, when they come in and how they come in… Vatican City controls who comes in, when they come in and how they come in as a city state. And as a result, the United States has a right to do that as well,” [the _Guardian_ reports](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/18/donald-trump-pope-francis-christian-wall-mexico-border). That’s a point that Trump’s social media director also made on Twitter Thursday: > [](https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/700368610322206720) Other candidates, possibly wary of getting in between the leader of the Catholic church and their party’s frontrunner, were more tepid in their responses. “His Christianity is between him and his creator,” former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush [said](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/18/donald-trump-pope-francis-christian-wall-mexico-border) of whether or not Trump is a Christian. As for the Pope’s statement about walls (“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian”), Bush said, “I don’t know what that means. I support walls and fencing where it’s appropriate, for sure … I think it’s okay as a Catholic to get my guidance as a Catholic from the Pope but certainly not economic policy or environmental policy.” “Listen, that’s between Donald and the Pope,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said of the issue, [according to Politico](http://www.politico.com/blogs/south-carolina-primary-2016-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/ted-cruz-donald-trump-pope-fight-219450). “I’m not going to get in the middle of that. I’ll leave it to the two of them to work it out.” Besides Trump, Cruz has been the most vocal candidate calling for a border wall. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4229736/donald-trump-pope-francis-immigration-candidates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4229736/donald-trump-pope-francis-immigration-candidates/"},"headline":"Republican Candidates Weigh in on Trump's Feud With Pope Francis","datePublished":"2016-02-18T21:24:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:29.911Z","description":"\"Enforcing our immigration laws is not in contradiction with love and kindness\"","url":"https://time.com/4229736/donald-trump-pope-francis-immigration-candidates/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Pope Francis","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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