The recent diary, “Did Pope Francis Just Compare Trump to Hitler?” omits what the pope actually did say about Trump:
Q: Donald Trump has just become the president of the US, and the whole world is tense because of it. What do you think about that?
A.
I think that we must wait and see. I don't like to get ahead of myself nor judge people prematurely. We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets predicting calamities or windfalls that will not be either. We will see. We will see what he does and will judge. Always on the specific. Christianity, either is specific or it is not Christianity.
In other words, Pope Francis basically repeated what two of his officials have already said.
The second highest Vatican official, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, congratulated Trump on his election.
“Asked about the polemics that arose earlier in the year between Trump and Pope Francis over the question of immigration, especially concerning the US-Mexico border, “Let’s see how the president acts,” Parolin said. “Normally, they say, it is one thing to be a candidate and another to be president, to have that responsibility.”
“It seems premature to make judgments” until Trump is inaugurated and begins making decisions, Cardinal Parolin said.
Parolin also said the first issue on which the Vatican would “collaborate” with Trump was peace. The second was “the internal [domestic] issues” of the US Church such as “religious freedom.”
Cardinal Peter Turkson, recently appointed by the pope to head a new “super-dicastery focused in particular on assisting and accompanying migrants,” said on Dec. 23, it was “unfortunate” that Trump took the pope’s words “personally” because “it wasn’t [just about] Trump.” The pope meant his comments to include immigration problems in Poland and Hungary “as well,” Turkson clarified. “I don’t think we can take any of [Trump’s] campaign positions seriously, since they may come under review and reformulation,” the cardinal said, agreeing with Parolin.
Unfortunately, the Daily Kos website is no better than the US for-profit media by preferring only what flatters the pontiff and trying to ignore other stories which do not, such as:
This past November: “Pope Francis: The ban on women’s ordination will continue forever”
In December: “Pope Reiterates Catholic Church's Ban on Gay Priests” or “Pope Francis 'told about alleged child rapist' two years before his arrest”