REFLECTION: Donald Trump is right. Pope Francis’s visit to the border is political

by John Gehring, The Washington Post

When Pope Francis stands at the U.S.- Mexico border on Wednesday, he will bring a clarion message from the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The biblical imperative to welcome the stranger and protect the refugee is an ancient commandment.

The presence of the first Latin American pope at the border also symbolically puts the most influential religious leader on the global stage squarely in the middle of a fierce presidential election-year fight over immigration.

Donald Trump last week called the pope “a very political person” and implied Francis was being used by the Mexican government.

“I think Mexico got him to do it,” Trump sniffed, “because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they’re making a fortune and we’re losing.”

A pope who travels to the margins as a witness to God’s solidarity with the poor and vulnerable isn’t playing politics. He is following the Gospel. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus radically redefined the definition of neighbor beyond language, religion and border…

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