US President, Donald Trump has responded to Pope Francis, who earlier criticized him and described him as non-Christian.

Trump replied to the criticism at a campaign rally in Kiawah Island, S.C., warning the pontiff about the Islamic State, who he said: “their primary goal is to get to the Vatican.”

“If and when the Vatican is attacked, the pope would only wish and have prayed that Donald Trump would have been elected President,” he said.

The President had earlier in his speech, said, “I like the pope.”

Before the Catholic pontiff arrived at the Mexican border, President Trump had frowned on the visit, describing Francis as a politician and accused him of acting at the behest of the Mexican government.

Trump, a Presbyterian, has been trying to make inroads among evangelical voters as he seeks reelection come November.

“I think that the pope is a very political person,” he said.

When asked about Trump’s comments, Francis laughed, saying, “Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as ‘animal politicus’.

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“So at least I am a human person. As to whether I am a pawn, well, maybe, I don’t know. I’ll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people.”

Pope Francis had on Wednesday, said that President Donald Trump of the United States of America “is not Christian.”

The Pope was reacting to Trump’s campaign promises to deport more immigrants and force Mexico to pay for a wall along the border.

Francis spoke when a reporter asked him [Pope] about the President on the papal airliner as he returned to Rome, Italy, after his six-day visit to Mexico.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said.

The pontiff stated this barely three hours after he had concluded his Mexico trip by presiding over a huge Mass in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.

He added that he “was not going to get involved in that” when asked if he was planning on influencing Catholics in how they vote in the presidential election.

“I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that,” Francis maintained.

“We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”