Donald Trump calls Pope Francis 'disgraceful' and says Vatican will be attacked by Isis - press statement in full

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Donald Trump has hit back against Pope Francis apparently branding his policies not Christian, in a strong and aggressive new statement.

The Pope said that Trump's policy of building a wall between the US and Mexico was not Christian, in a comment from his plane.

Mr Trump has responded with an impassioned statement that says that the Vatican will be attacked by Isis and calls the head of the Catholic church "disgraceful". He also said that the Pope had only made the comment because the Mexican government had persuaded him to do so.

The full statement reads:

"If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.

"The Mexican government and its leadership has made many disparaging remarks about me to the Pope, because they want to continue to rip off the United States, both on trade and at the border, and they understand I am totally wise to them. The Pope only heard one side of the story - he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States. He doesn’t see how Mexican leadership is outsmarting President Obama and our leadership in every aspect of negotiation.

"For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as President I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with our current President. No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith. They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant.