Despite not seeing eye to eye with Donald Trump in the past, Pope Francis is going to pray for the U.S. President-elect with the hope that he will eventually become "enlightened."
This is what Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Catholic Church's highest-ranking diplomat, told the papal state's radio station on Wednesday after Trump scored a stunning victory over his Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
"We wish the new president well, that he may have a truly fruitful government," said Parolin, reported Charisma News. "We pledge to pray that God enlightens him and supports him in the service of his country of course, but also in the service of well-being and peace in the world. I think today everyone needs to work to change the global situation, which is one of deep laceration and serious conflict."
The pope and Trump's tiff began earlier this February when Trump announced his plans to tighten America's borders and limit the entry of immigrants. Pope Francis suggested that Trump is "not a Christian" because he planned to build a wall at the Mexican border, according to The Guardian.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the pope said.
Trump did not take the pope's comments kindly, and he immediately fired back: "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful."
"No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man's religion or faith," he added as he accused the Mexican government of "using the pope as a pawn."
"They should be ashamed of themselves, especially when so many lives are involved and illegal immigration is rampant and bad for the United States," he said.
Trump even said that the Vatican should hope he wins because a "no-action politician" would have allowed ISIS to infiltrate their country and take over.
"If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy," Trump said, "the pope can have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened."
