Pope Francis should know that walls sometimes are commanded by God, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Thursday in response to the Pope saying Christians don't build walls.
Appearing on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," Huckabee responded to
the Pope's statement Thursday that "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian."
A reporter had asked Francis about GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump's call to build a wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border.
"It's just absolutely stunning," Huckabee said. I don't remember in my lifetime that a Pope has ever injected himself into the specifics of an American presidential election and specifically calling out of a candidate."
Huckabee said that all the Republican candidates have called for a secure border, so Francis should not have singled out Trump.
"I have been to the Vatican," he added. "There is a big wall that surrounds the Vatican. I'm wondering, when the Pope gets back home, is he going to it take that down and say we don't build walls anymore?"
Further, the Old Testament figure Nehemiah built a protective wall around Jerusalem at God's command, said Huckabee, a former Baptist minister.
"I don't know what the Pope thinks a country should do if it doesn't protect its borders and protect its people," he said. "A country without a border is not even a country anymore."