The first clue about Trump's view of a Pope came with the resignation of Benedict XVI.
The new president wrote in February 2013 that he was not in favor of the resignation of the German Pope. He thought it was a move that could harm Benedict XVI himself and the Church.
Weeks later, after the election of Cardinal Bergoglio as new Pope, Trump congratulated all Catholics. However, the first difference came a day later, when Pope Francis paid from his pocket the lodging where he was in the days before the conclave. Trump thought it was not the way of doing things.
The response of the people did not wait. He was told that the difference between him and Pope Francis was that the pontiff did not have to always show his importance. To that criticism Trump responded with strong and proud self irony: 'that's why I'll never be Pope'.
That same year, in December, he praised Francis: 'The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!'
Trump's clearest position on the Pope was to respond to these words of the pontiff after the trip to Mexico:
POPE FRANCIS
'A person who only thinks about building walls and does not focus on building bridges is not a Christian. This is not the Gospel.'
He was talking about Trump's proposal of building a wall between Mexico and the United States. Trump responded that the Pope was missing a part of the problem and that if ISIS were to attack the Vatican, Pope Francis would be the first to pray for Donald Trump to be president of the United States.
In a recent interview the Pope avoided evaluating the proposals of Trump and said that consideration would have to wait until decisions by the president were made.
Although they have points of agreement such as the rejection of abortion, it is clear that there are wide differences on how to solve the challenges of our time.
