Pope Francis goes after Trump on DACA and slams climate change deniers

The latest chapter in the world's highest-level feud.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Pope Francis goes after Trump on DACA and slams climate change deniers
A brief moment of civility during the feud. Credit: OSSERVATORE ROMANO/HANDOUT/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

Hoo boy, it looks like the world's biggest feud is getting a new chapter as Pope Francis dropped some bars on U.S. President Donald Trump during a press conference aboard Pope Force One on Sunday.

Traveling from Colombia back to Rome, the pontiff took questions from a diverse cast of reporters and didn't hold back in continuing to level criticism at Trump, a foil of his for a while now.

Sporting a shiner he got from an unfortunate collision between his head and the Popemobile over the weekend, Pope Francis said of the unwillingness by some to admit climate change is real, “If we do not turn back, we will go down... And history will judge the decisions.”

He also noted the stubbornness of climate change deniers with a Biblical reference: “Man is stupid, the Bible said. It’s like that, when you don’t want to see, you don’t see.”

"Those who deny it, should go to the scientists and ask them," the pope added. "They are very clear, very precise."

And if that made you think of EPA chief Scott Pruitt's recent comments saying a monster hurricane wasn't the time to talk about climate change, you probably weren't the only one.

Though the pope didn't mention Trump specifically while addressing climate change, he's pressed Trump on it before, handing Trump his 2015 climate change letter, "Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home."

And Pope Francis did have Trump on the mind when asked about immigration, specifically mentioning Trump's recent decision to roll back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, more popularly known as DACA.

Said Francis on the DACA reversal, according to the New York Times, “I hope they rethink it a bit. Because I heard the U.S. president speak. He presents himself as a man who is pro-life. If he is a good pro-life believer he must understand that family is the cradle of life and one must defend its unity."

That right there is some quality papal shade and not the first time his excellency has gone after Trump's behavior. Remember, in February 2016, Francis said of Trump's immigration attitudes, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian."

That particular spat led to the awe-inspiring event of Trump telling the pope that he'd better hope ISIS doesn't attack the Vatican.

Trump has yet to respond to the pope's new comments as he's been busy on Monday at various Sept. 11 memorials and (hopefully) staying involved in response efforts for Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.

But, if history is any indication, we should expect a tweetstorm response, if not Monday night, than sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning before the sun comes up and we can ingest enough coffee to handle it all.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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