Vatican spokesman downplays Pope's comments during airplane interview

February 19, 2016

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, has insisted that Pope Francis had not intended a "personal attack" on Donald Trump.

In a February 19 interview with Vatican Radio, Father Lombardi sought to quell the controversy provoked by the Pontiff's latest off-the cuff remarks, saying that in his answer to a question about Trump, the Pope had merely been reiterating his well-known views on the immigration question. "The Pope said what we already know, if we follows his teachings and positions," the papal spokesman said; "We shouldn't build walls, but bridges."

Father Lombardi went on to say that although the Pope was answering a question about Trump, his remarks were not intended as a judgment on the American political candidate. "It's his generic view, coherent with the nature of solidarity from the Gospel," he said.

Regarding another controversy the Pope had caused in the same interview, when he suggested that contraceptive use might be justifiable as a response to the Zika epidemic, Father Lombardi again tried to minimize the impact of the Pope's remarks. The thrust of the Pontiff's message, he said, had been to say that a "well-formed conscience can see if there are any possibilities, or need, for use of non-abortifacients to prevent pregnancy."

 

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Further information:

• Vatican: Pope Was Not Singling out Trump With His Remarks (AP)
• Vatican seeks to defuse Trump's feud with the Pope (UPI)
• Are the Pope's Controversial Inflight Interviews a Price Worth Paying? (National Catholic Register)