Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is criticizing Pope Francis as a "very political person" in light of the pontiff's plan to visit areas ravaged by the ongoing drug war and the border during his trip to Mexico.

Trump used a recent phone interview on the Fox News show "Varney & Company" to raise his objection, Beyond criticizing the Pope for "lacking an understanding of the U.S' immigration situation," Trump added, "I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico."

"Mexico got him to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they're making a fortune and we're losing," he added later.

The Pope is expected to formally start his trip on Feb. 12, and he has already committed to visiting a region of the country that has been greatly decimated by the raging drug wars of the past decade.

"The Mexico of violence, the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drugs trafficking, the Mexico of cartels, is not the Mexico our Mother wants," he previously said in a statement released earlier this month.

As part of the visit, the Pope plans to hold a mass near the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday Feb. 17 to call for a more humane approach to immigration.

"He will be calling on us to look with compassion on a group of people who have suffered terribly," Bishop Mark Seitz of Texas told Salon. "And perhaps that will lead people to seek out some different solutions than are now being proposed."

Meanwhile, Trump has made the issue of immigration reform one of his campaign's staples, calling for greater border control. Beyond once vilifying Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, Trump has vowed to build a massive wall along the Mexican border to keep out immigrants. He has also promised to deport as many as 11 million immigrants over his first two years in office.

Latin Post previously reported a group of Latino leaders recently banded together to respond to the fiery rhetoric by Trump and other GOP candidates. The group penned an open letter, published by the People for the American Way (PFAW), in which they claimed the candidates had "crossed a line."

Actors America Ferrera, Aubrey Plaza, Benjamin Bratt, George Lopez and Zoe Saldana were among those who signed the letter, which stressed there was no way the GOP candidates could return to the good graces of outraged Latinos.

Latin Post reached out to the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for comment, but has received no response by press time.

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