MEXICO
CNN
By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor
(CNN)Imagine this split screen: On one side is Donald Trump, repeating his campaign pledge to build a big wall between the United States and Mexico. On the other is Pope Francis, kneeling to pray for the thousands of undocumented immigrants who have died trying to cross the border.
As the Pope visits Mexico February through February 17, he is not expected to tussle with Trump or directly criticize U.S. immigration policy. Papal aides said Francis wants to avoid appearing to intervene in the presidential election.
That hasn’t stopped Trump from taking aim at the Pope.
“I think that the Pope is a very political person. I think that he doesn’t understand the problems our country has,” Trump said in an interview Thursday on Fox Business. “I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico.” …
Some Catholics say the Pope may also seek to atone for the sexual abuse perpetrated by Marcial Maciel Degollado, the disgraced founder of the Legion of Christ who sexually abused seminarians and fathered several children. Degollado, who died in 2008, was a powerful figure in the Mexican church for decades.
“It will be the first time a pope has been in Mexico since that blew up,” said Kesicki. “That’s another flashpoint that I think he may have to address.”
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