If he had the chance to meet Pope Francis, Donald Trump says he would use the opportunity to deliver the pontiff a warning.
"I'd say, 'ISIS wants to get you,'" Trump told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Wednesday.
Trump made the remark as a response, of sorts, to a question from Cuomo asking what would happen if the two met and the pope started talking about the perils of capitalism.
The real estate mogul went off topic to say: "You know that ISIS wants to go in and take over the Vatican? You have heard that. You know, that's a dream of theirs, to go into Italy."
Trump went on to claim that capitalism is "the only thing we have right now," as though the economic system would somehow protect Pope Francis against a theoretical attack by the Islamic State group.
The pope doesn't need any warning from Trump to know that the militant group has made threats to the Vatican. But despite ISIS' use of slick Photoshop editing to hoist its black flag above St. Peter's Square, there have been no indications of a planned attack.
But Trump seems ready to protect capitalism at all costs, even if it means instilling some fear in Francis. If the two did meet, the pope might have a thing or two to say to Trump about capitalism, immigration, protecting the environment or any of the other issues the GOP candidate could use a lesson in.
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