



'I think he said something much softer than what was originally reported by the media. I think that he heard one side of the story, which is probably by the Mexican government. He didn't see the tremendous strain that the border is causing us with respect to illegal immigration, [and] wiith the drugs pouring across the border.'Trump recalled that during his successful campaign in New Hampshire, drug abuse  specifically heroin  was 'the biggest single problem' everywhere he went.'They have a massive drug problem,' he said. 'We're gonna stop it. And it's pouring through the southern border.The Donald said he would be interested in a sit-down with Francis to hash out their differences.'I'll do it any time he wants. I mean, it would be very interesting,' he said.'I like him. I mean, I like him as a personality. I like what he represents. And I certainly have great respect for the position.'Cooper chuckled at recalling a 2015 Iowa event during which Trump told a skeptical audience of evangelical Christians that asking the Almighty for forgiveness wasn't a common ritual in his faith life.Trump answers an audience members question in a CNN South Carolina Republican Presidential Town Hall with host Anderson Cooper on February 18, 2016 in Columbia, South Carolina'Was there a moment when you first heard the Pope had said something about you, that you thought, "Maybe I'm gonna have to ask for forgiveness?"' Cooper asked him.'No,' he replied, as the studio audience laughed along with him.'No. Look, I have a lot of respect for the Pope. I think he's got a lot of personality. He's very different. He's a very different kind of a guy. And I think he's doing a very good job. He's got a lot of energy.''But I'd say that I think he was very much misinterpreted. And I also think he was given false information.'Trump said he wished Francis had 'heard our side, the side from people who live in the United States.'Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world. An enormous stone wall acts as a boundary between the micronation and the rest of Italy.Nowadays, it serves as a way for the Swiss Guard to control the stream of tourists coming in and out of the Pope's home.But, just over 1,200 years ago, it was an integral form of protection for the Pope, who was a targeted figure after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire .A huge stone wall surrounds the Vatican City, the smallest state in the world. The Pope suggested that Trump planning to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico was not ChristianThe fortification was first built after a raid by Muslim pirates in 846. Arab raiders sacked Rome in a bid to find treasures.Watch towers were put in place to watch for would-be intruders.It also helped to protect Pope Gregory VII around 200 years later when the Holy Roman Emperor besieged Rome.In the 1640s, Pope Paul III expanded the fortifications, and additional defenses.In 1870, the Pope's residency in the Vatican was left in flux when Rome was annexed by the Piedmont-led forces which had united the rest of Italy.They had created the Kingdom of Italy, a change opposed by Pope Pius XIII as it undermined his autonomy in some areas.Between 1861 and 1929 the status of the Pope was referred to as the 'Roman Question' and the walls served as a way of keeping him isolated from the rest of Italy.Within the walls, Italian politicians did not challenge the Pope's autonomy. But, in other parts of the country, church items were confiscated.In 1871, the Palazzo Quirinale, the Papal palace since 1583, was confiscated by the king of Italy and became the royal palace.Thereafter, Popes resided undisturbed within the Vatican walls.Certain papal prerogatives were recognized by the Law of Guarantees, including the right to send and receive ambassadors.But the Popes did not recognise the Italian king's right to rule in Rome, and they refused to leave the Vatican compound until the dispute was resolved in 1929.Ever since the autonomy of the Vatican within the walls has not been challenged by the Italian government.The global leader of the Roman Catholic Church told reporters early Thursday en route to Europe after a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border that 'a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel'Trump recalled that during his successful campaign in New Hampshire, drug abuse  specifically heroin  was 'the biggest single problem' everywhere he wentTrump walks into the crucial town hall event ahead of the South Carolina primary this weekend