Pope Francis Urges U.S. President-Elect Trump Not to Forget The Poor

By C Barnett --
14 Nov 2016 --

The leader of the Catholic Church believes that inequality is the biggest problem today; reminds Trump that Christian life is about acceptance and inclusiveness.

Pope Francis urged the new president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, to include everyone in his plans for development. Pope Francis, who once even said that Trump was very “unchristian,” reminded the incoming president-elect that God has called Christians to welcome everyone, irrespective of race, belief, ethnicity, religion, language or culture. The Pope may possibly have hinted at Trump’s reputation for upholding the white-supremacist ideology and outright disdain for Muslim migrants.

Pope Francis Urges U.S. President-Elect Trump Not to Forget The Poor[/tweetthis]

The Pope’s words come in an interview for La Repubblica. The Pope made it clear that he would not pass any judgment on Trump as he is more concerned with what effect politicians have on the people rather than with politicians themselves. The Pope expressed his fear that in the process of trying to develop the nation, the poor and marginalized will be left out. The Pope is especially concerned about the immigrants who seek an opportunity to live life peacefully in richer countries that have more stability, but are greeted with hatred and suspicion instead.

Going back to Christian values, the Pope observed that Christianity is rooted in the values of love and acceptance. He said that a Christian is one who learns to accept and shows mercy. In fact the Pope described mercy as an act of acceptance, where Christians stop focusing on their own selfishness and insecurities and start living for others instead.

The Pope has always championed the rights of immigrants and has played a key role in opening up Europe to refugees from war-stricken Syria. Naturally, this puts him at odds with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, who has always linked terrorism to Muslims, and had called for a ban on refugees. The Pope commented on Trump’s idea to build a wall to stop Mexican immigrants from entering the U.S. by saying that the hallmark of a true Christian is a desire to break down walls between people, rather than to propose building one. Ironically, most of America’s Catholics don’t seem to share the same opinion with the Pope, as revealed by a research which showed that a majority of Catholics have an unfavorable opinion about Muslims. Besides, Catholics along with white evangelicals played a big role in helping Trump win the presidential campaign.

Pope talks Trump in new interview: “I do not judge” but concerned about "immigrants and refugees.” https://t.co/so2DJcC5IZ
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) November 12, 2016

The Pope believes that one of the biggest problems affecting people today is economic inequality. He says that the only way that the world can be made a better place is if efforts are made to reach out to those economically marginalized by boosting up human rights.