Donald Trump wants to meet with the pope

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed an interest in meeting with Pope Francis, after the Catholic leader said that it "is not Christian" to propose to raise walls in the borders with Mexico.

"I do not like to fight with the pope," expressed Trump during a town hall organized by CNN on the eve of the primaries in South Carolina, where he leads the surveys among the Republican hopefuls.

"I have a lot of respect for the pope, he is a great personality. He is very different and I think that he is doing a great job. He has a lot of energy," he added.

Trump's tone was markedly different from the one he used in the previous afternoon, when he described as a "disgrace" the fact that the religious leader had questioned his faith.

When commentator Anderson Cooper asked him if he was interested in meeting with the pope, Trump replied: "I will do so whenever he wants, it will be very interesting". He added that the Pope had just part of the story, and lacks the point of view of the United States.

Trump added that the pope had received false information and spoke too much with the Mexican authorities.