In another tearing up of the rulebook in the US presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump used the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York - an annual Catholic charity dinner to raise money for the Archdiocese of New York - to again accuse his rival Hillary Clinton of hating Catholics.
To jeers from the audience at the annual white tie dinner - named after the Democrat former governor of New York, Alfred E. Smith, who was the first Catholic to be nominated for the presidency of the US - Trump suggested that his opponent hated Catholics.
"We've learned so much from WikiLeaks: for example, Hillary believes that it is vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private," Trump said, alluding to the emails leaked earlier this month from senior campaign staff discussing how to woo the Catholic vote. "For example, here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate Catholics."
During the dinner, traditionally after the final presidential debate - the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, sat between the two candidates and, admitted to the press afterwards that his seat was the "iciest place on the planet". But Dolan also told Fox News: "I was very moved by their interaction together around me, they were very friendly, very uplifting, very complimentary to one another. I thought the evening accomplished its goals."
After being jeered for his anti-Catholic jibe at Clinton, Trump made some inroads into getting the room back onside with his closing remarks about the importance of fighting anti-Catholic bias in the US and defending the right to life. "We can also agree on the need to stand up to anti-Catholic bias, to defend religious liberty, and to create a culture that celebrates life," Trump concluded.
Meanwhile, Clinton in her reply began with a few jokes but in a far more sober speech ended by extolling the virtues of Pope Francis and the teachings of the Society of Jesus.
"I believe how we treat others is the highest expression of faith and of service," Clinton said. "Now, I'm not Catholic, I'm a Methodist. But one of the things that we share is the belief that in order to achieve salvation we need both faith and good works. And you certainly don't need to be Catholic to be inspired by the humility and heart of the Holy Father Pope Francis or to embrace his message of rejecting a mindset of hostility. His calls to reduce inequality. His warnings about climate change."
And in a direct barb at Trump's campaign pledge to build a wall between the United States and Mexico she added that it was not hard to embrace Francis' "appeals that we build bridges not walls". She also made a nod to the Jesuits who educated her Catholic running mate Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia by highlighting the Jesuit teaching on the virtues of the "magis" - the idea of doing more for others as a way of doing more for Jesus.
When asked about the jibes in the candidates speeches, Dolan said after the dinner: "Ah, who knows? Humour. To each his own, it's a matter of taste…. The fact that we're together, the fact that they shake hands at the end and say, 'see you on the campaign trail,' that's not bad."
PICTURE - From left: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump enjoy a laugh together during the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York last night (20 October)
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