Pope Francis hit at Donald Trump declares him ‘not Christian’ because of his plan to put a wall on Mexican border

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Pope Francis said Thursday in Mexico that Donald Trump is “not Christian.”

Donald Trump was declared “not Christian” Thursday by the world’s foremost expert on the topic — Pope Francis.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico, the pious pope said the GOP presidential candidate’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S. border was an affront to Christian values.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said.

“This is not in the gospel. As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt,” the pope added.

Francis waded into the political fray as he concluded his visit to Mexico, which included a public mass at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump, speaking Thursday at a campaign rally in South Carolina, fired back, noting that “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS,” the pope will wish he was President, according to media reports.

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Trump’s plan to put a wall on the Mexican border is an affront to Christian values, the Pope said.

The Republican front-runner — hoping to build on his strong showing in the New Hampshire primary — said it was “disgraceful” of the pope to doubt the sincerity of his Christian comittment.

Earlier, at the start of the Pope’s trip to Mexico, Trump questioned Francis’ decision to visit the Spanish-speaking country, calling him a “very political person.”

“I don't think he understands the danger of the open border we have with Mexico,” Trump said.

On Thursday, the Pope addressed that allegation as well as throwing shade at the bombastic billionaire’s moral fiber.

“Thank God he said I was a politician, because Aristotle defined the human person as ‘animal politicus.’ So at least I am a human person. As to whether I am a pawn — well, maybe, I don't know. I'll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people,” Pope Francis said. 

Prostitute found dead in Britain had hidden her secret life as a sex worker from her family

A prostitute found dead in Britain had hidden her life as a sex worker from her family.

Jessica McGraa, 37, was found dead in an apartment in Aberdeen, Scotland, after telling her husband she was travelling from her home in London to sell hair extensions.

Her devastated husband Gareth had no idea of her secret double life, Mirror Online reported.

He said his Nigerian-born partner was a devout Christian and he was convinced she was making money by selling hair extensions.

“I honestly believed that she was making her money from hair extensions,” the 56-year-old said.

“She was a very pious girl – she dragged me to church even and that’s not easy.

“I thought I knew her and it hurts.”

The couple, who have a 6-year-old son, split when the child was 1, but have had several reunions and he hoped they would end up back together permanently.

McGraa used aliases including “Ebony Bianca” and “Kelly West” on escort sites to sell sex for $300 an hour.

She described herself as “classic, stylish, naughty, horny, sexy” and promised the “ultimate girlfriend experience” to potential clients.

Bala Chinda, 25, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of murder and has been remanded in custody.

I don't think Donald Trump will be President - Barack Obama

President Barack Obama has a message for Donald Trump — being president is tougher than being on a reality show and the American people are too "sensible" to elect him.

"I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president," Obama said at a news conference in California after a meeting with southeast Asian leaders. "And the reason is that I have a lot of faith in the American people. Being president is a serious job. It's not hosting a talk show, or a reality show."

He went on: "It's not promotion, it's not marketing. It's hard. And a lot of people count on us getting it right."

The comments marked a political resurgence for a lame-duck President in his final year in office. Obama offered surprisingly frank assessments of the campaign to replace him, taking shots at Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. He also hinted hint that he was sympathetic to Hillary Clinton's position on the difficulty of enacting political change, as she faces a tough challenge from a candidate in Bernie Sanders, who has fired up Democratic primary voters who are demanding sweeping reform.

But it was the potential of a Trump administration that Obama seemed most eager to critique.

The presidency isn't "a matter of pandering and doing whatever will get you in the news on a given day. And sometimes, it requires you making hard decisions even when people don't like it," Obama said, adding that whoever succeeds him needs to be able to reflect the importance of their office and give foreign leaders confidence he or she knows their names and something about their nations' histories.

Obama also appeared to raise the question of whether Trump was prepared to be commander-in-chief.

"Whoever's standing where I'm standing right now has the nuclear codes with them, and can order 21-year-olds into a firefight, and (has) to make sure that the banking system doesn't collapse, and is often responsible for not just the United States of America, but 20 other countries that are having big problems, or are falling apart and are gonna be looking for us to something."

He added: "The American people are pretty sensible, and I think they'll make a sensible choice in the end."

Trump responded to Obama during an event in Beaufort, South Carolina.

"He has done such a lousy job as president," Trump said, before adding that he didn't mind being targeted by Obama, saying he took it as a "great compliment."

Trump wasn't the only Republican who took a shot from the President.

When he bemoaned Republican warnings that his nominee to replace late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court would not even get a hearing, Obama rebuked people who claim to be "strict interpreters" of the Constitution -- except regarding his right to propose a nominee.

That seemed to be a clear jab at Cruz, who has helped lead calls to prevent the president installing a nominee who could tilt the ideological balance of the court to the left.

Rubio also came under fire when the president mocked "a candidate who sponsored a bill, that I supported, to finally solve the immigration problem, and he's running away from it as fast as he can."

The President stepped more carefully when he was asked about the Democratic race. He opened by making it look like he was delivering a veiled endorsement of Clinton, who is facing a stronger than expected challenge from Sanders.

"You know, I know Hillary better than I know Bernie, because she's served in my administration, and she was an outstanding secretary of state. And I suspect that, on certain issues, she agrees with me more than Bernie does," Obama said.

But then added: "On the other hand, there may be a couple issues where Bernie agrees with me more. I don't know, I haven't studied their positions that closely."

Obama who, like Sanders, once wowed young Democrats with soaring calls for change in the 2008 election, also appeared to give credence to Clinton's election argument that pushing through fundamental reforms is harder than it looks.

"Ultimately, I will probably have an opinion on it, based on both -- (having) been a candidate of hope and change and a President who's got some nicks and cuts and bruises from -- you know, getting stuff done over the last seven years."

Obama was clear on one thing -- he's happy not to be in the race himself.

"The thing I can say unequivocally," he said, "I am not unhappy that I am not on the ballot."

With CNN

Pope Francis scolds person who pulled him down in Mexico

For a Pope often seen as calm and collected, the look on his face after a mishap at a Mexican stadium came as a stunner.

The Pope was greeting a crowd in the city of Morelia on Tuesday when someone apparently grabbed him by the hand and wouldn't let go.

The worshiper ended up pulling the Pope down onto a young man in a wheelchair.

Francis regained his balance with the help of a security guard. But his normally smiling face morphed into a look of anger as he apparently yelled at the person in the crowd.

Shortly afterward, an announcement came on the stadium's speakers:

"We are asking you to be careful," the announcer said. "Please contain yourself. Pope Francis wants to greet us, but if we pile up, it will be difficult to do so."

He's known for interacting closely with worshipers -- for example, opting for a car with an open top instead of the traditional bulletproof "Popemobile."

But the incident in Morelia might have his security detail on higher alert.

On Wednesday, the Pope will visit the notoriously violent city of Juarez, Mexico. Juarez, once known as the "murder capital of the world," sits just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

Francis has spoken out against impenetrable international borders, calling them "monuments of exclusion" and even a "form of suicide" that closes countries in on themselves. He has also urged the United States and Mexico to protect Central American migrants, particularly children, seeking to escape poverty and violence.

"I don't think the Holy Father's trip to Juarez is political," said the Rev. Timothy Kesicki, president of the U.S.-based Jesuit Conference. "But how could it not have political overtones? It's going to be drawing a lot of attention to immigration at a time when we are having debates about it."

The moment many Catholics are most eagerly awaiting will come when the Pope approaches the U.S.-Mexico border in Juarez.

Papal aides say security and logistical barriers will prevent the Pope from making a political point by crossing the border.

Across the river and through the fences, a group of "Francis VIPs," including undocumented immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, await the Pope's blessing.

"These are the people the Pope has come to see and pray for," said Bishop Mark Seitz, the El Paso bishop who organized the event.

Francis is expected to say a prayer at the border fence and lay flowers in memory of the more than 6,000 migrants found dead on the U.S. side of the border between 1998 and 2013, according to U.S. Border Control estimates.

"The symbolism of this moment will not be missed by anyone in the border region," said Joe Boland, vice president of missions at Catholic Extension, a charity with a long history in the area. "It will be like the Pope coming to Ellis Island."

Later Wednesday the Pope will celebrate a large Mass not far from the border, where migrants and victims of drug violence will be among the 200,000 receiving Holy Communion.

With CNN

Gregoire Ahongbonon, a former mechanic from Benin, has helped thousands of West Africans affected by mental illnesses

For almost 30 years, Gregoire Ahongbonon, a former mechanic from Benin, has helped thousands of West Africans affected by mental illnesses, caring for them in residential centres run by his charity, the Saint Camille association. Above all else, he is determined to stop the practice of keeping mentally ill people in chains.

Aime has just come out of his room. He is taking tiny steps - his ankles held in leg irons.

The scene takes place in a small house in the city of Calavi, on the outskirts of Cotonou, the capital of Benin. Aime, 24, has a mental illness and his elder brother and sister have been looking after him to the best of their abilities.

"We've had to lock him up because he disturbs people and they come to our house to complain," says his brother, Rosinos.

"Sometimes he even attacks people in the street saying they've stolen something. He can't stop screaming, day or night. He can't sleep, so neither do we. I'm so overwhelmed by all this."

The family could not afford for Aime to be treated at the country's only state-run mental health institution, the Jacquot Public Hospital, where fees start at 20,000 CFA francs per month, almost half the average salary. Instead they gave him medication prescribed by the hospital - but after eight months they could no longer afford that either.

Aime had become calmer, but without treatment his illness quickly returned. Rosinos and his sister, Edmunda, were in desperation when Edmunda went to a lecture by Gregoire Ahongbonon, campaigning against the stigmatisation of mental illness.

Afterwards Edmunda asked Ahongbonon for advice, and Aime is now being taken to a centre run by the Saint Camille association in Calavi.

The association has more than a dozen centres across Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso. They care for thousands of patients and charge very little.

Ahongbonon and his staff find homeless people, thrown out on to the street by their families, and give them a home. They also travel across West Africa on alert for reports of mentally ill people shackled or mistreated in remote villages. When they find such people they offer to take them in.

"Mental patients here are seen as possessed by the devil or victims of witchcraft," says Ahongbonon.

"That's the case in Africa in general, but in Benin it's even worse, because Benin is the home of voodoo, so it's even stronger here."

In Benin, when someone becomes ill, the family's first instinct is often to take the patient either to a traditional healer or to evangelical churches that claim they can heal the patient by praying for his soul.

When Pelagie Agossou's grandson, Judikael, became ill, friends encouraged her to take him to a church to have the "evil spirits" cast out. She rejected this advice, but tried just about everything else, including a traditional healer.

Judikael's problem was a form of schizophrenia, in which he heard voices telling him to take his clothes off and run out of the house.

"Once, after my child had run away from home yet, again a girl came and told me Judikael was wondering around the city in his underwear," says Agossou.

"So I dashed there but when he saw me he started to run… I ran after him and people started to chase him too, thinking he was a thief. And I was shouting 'No don't hurt him, he's my child.' I was so scared that the police would hurt him thinking that he was a thief."

She tried taking him to a private clinic but it was too expensive, and it was at this point that she visited a traditional healer, where she paid 80,000 CFA francs (£93) for a medicine that had no effect.

With BBC