Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has commended Pope Francis hours after the pontiff questioned his Christian faith.
Earlier, the Pope said that Mr Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the US border with Mexico was not Christian, provoking a strong response from the businessman.
Mr Trump issued a statement in which he called the comments “disgraceful.”
But hours later, at a town hall event in South Carolina, the billionaire hotel developer, was more conciliatory.
He said that he has respects for the Pope and that the pontiff was misinformed when he criticised the proposed wall, because he was not aware of the drugs coming in and the other security problems that makes a strong border a necessity.
Mr Trump, who has no political experience but won in New Hampshire, is the clear frontrunner in Saturday’s Republican vote.
At the town hall event on Thursday hosted by the CNN, Mr Trump backed down from comments made at the weekend when he said former President, George Bush, lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction before invading Iraq.
Mr Bush’s younger brother Jeb Bush is one of Mr Trump’s rivals for the White House, but his main threat comes from Texas, Senator Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa caucus.
The Democratic race in Nevada has Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders neck-to-neck.
Mrs Clinton, speaking in Las Vegas on Thursday evening, condemned Mr Trump for his “prejudice and paranoia.”
