Megachurch pastor tells ‘confused’ Pope to beg forgiveness from ‘martyr’ Donald Trump

Pastor Robert Jeffress told radio host Sean Hannity that he thinks Pope Francis should apologize to Donald Trump for saying Trump is not a Christian.

Speaking to Hannity on Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show, Jeffress echoed right wing talking points from Thursday who uniformly said Francis was at risk from ISIS and Trump, as president, would be in a position to protect him, according to a clip prepared by Media Matters.

"Sean, I think the Pope needs to ask Donald Trump's forgiveness for making such an outlandish statement," Jeffress said. "I want to remind our listeners that it was exactly one year ago this week that 21 Coptic Christians' had their heads chopped off by ISIS on a Libyan beach and then ISIS said, 'we are coming to Rome next.'"

On Thursday, Francis said the GOP candidate and real estate mogul is "not a Christian" when asked whether the faithful should vote for him. The Pontiff had just visited Mexico, where he spent some time talking about the human rights crisis of migration into the United States.

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” Francis said. He declined to say whether followers should vote for Trump, but added, "I would only say that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”

Jeffress then went on to say the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics was "confused" about the role of the Church.

"And the fact that we have a candidate like Donald Trump who wants to protect America, that's not unbiblical," he said. "The Pope is confused between the role of the Church, which is to show compassion, and the role of government, which is to uphold order and to protect its citizens. And I want to make a prediction. I think the Pope has succeeded in doing what no other man on Earth could do, and that is creating a martyr in Donald Trump."

Listen to the clip, via Media Matters, here: