Pope Francis should not become involved in American politics because "he's probably not up to speed on what we're arguing about," conservative columnist George Will told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"This Pope has shown a proclivity, to put it politely, for speaking about things about which he has no particular expertise: climate change, income redistribution, all the rest," Will told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview. "He has a long sort of Latin American, left-wing political agenda — and I think it influenced this."
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Donald Trump's response to the Pontiff suggesting that he was "not Christian" because of his views on immigration was "in character," Will said.
"Donald Trump is a blame-the-foreigners-first kind of candidate," he told Malzberg. "I don't think decision is Donald Trump's strong suit anyway.
"He responded in character when the Pope responded in character. It's unseemly and unedifying on all counts."
The columnist also called President Barack Obama "tone deaf" to some of the protocols of being the nation's chief executive in not attending Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral on Saturday.
"That's a very unfortunate thing," Will said. "He's gone to the funerals of six deceased Democratic politicians and three civil rights leaders.
"You would think that he could've spared an afternoon in his eight years for all of the pre-eminent judicial thinkers in the history of the Supreme Court."
He doesn't think Obama's decision is politically motivated, "but it's all politics.
"That is what this president does," Will added. "He's tone deaf to some of the — I'll just say — the good manners of an occupant of the Oval Office."
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