Texas archbishop to Trump: "Stop racism, starting with yourself"
A Texas Roman Catholic archbishop posted tweets critical of President Donald Trump, only to delete them later. CBS affiliate KENS-TV reports that San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller used his personal Twitter account late Monday to demand that Mr. Trump "stop racism, starting with yourself."
The prelate called the president poor and weak, accusing him of causing "too much damage already" and of destroying lives. He added: "Stop, stop, stop. Please, please, please."
The tweets came after a mass shooting in El Paso that killed 22 people. The suspected gunman adopted Mr. Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric in his social media postings.
The postings were deleted by Tuesday morning. However, KENS-TV posted screen grabs of some of the tweets.
Later, in English and Spanish, the archbishop tweeted that he regretted that his remarks "were not focused on the issues but on an individual."
KENS-TV published García-Siller's full statement Tuesday night, which said in part:
I regret that my recent Tweet remarks were not focused on the issues but on an individual. All individuals have God-given dignity and should be accorded respect and love as children of God, especially in our conversations and interactions. We should be aware of this in our discourse about the Office of the President of the United States, which is due our respect.
The families affected in the shootings in El Paso, Dayton, and Gilroy, California need our prayers. Here in South Texas the nearby community of Sutherland Springs was the scene of just such a tragedy two years ago. This evil makes no sense and will never be fully understood. Disbelief and shock are the overwhelming feelings; and there are no adequate words. There can be no justifiable explanation for such scenes of horror.
My hope is to bring comfort at this emotional time ...
