Chris Christie: ‘I just think the Pope is wrong’

Governor Chris Christie

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Gov. Chris Christie: 'The Pope is wrong'

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie uses the beach with his family and friends at the governor's summer house at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey on July 2. Christie is defending his use of the beach, closed to the public during New Jersey's government shutdown, saying he had previously announced his vacation plans and the media had simply "caught a politician keeping his word."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie uses the beach with his family and friends at the governor's summer house at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey on July 2. Christie is defending his use of the beach, closed to the public during New Jersey's government shutdown, saying he had previously announced his vacation plans and the media had simply "caught a politician keeping his word."

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PALM BEACH, FL: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie waits to be introduced to speak during the "Managing the Disruption" conference held at the Tideline Ocean Resort on April 3, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. The conference is put on by the Greene Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to finding, developing, and promoting strategies for increasing upward mobility in America. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

PALM BEACH, FL: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie waits to be introduced to speak during the "Managing the Disruption" conference held at the Tideline Ocean Resort on April 3, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. The conference is put on by the Greene Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to finding, developing, and promoting strategies for increasing upward mobility in America. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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HAMMONTON, NJ - MARCH 29: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaks at a Reform Agenda Town Hall meeting at the New Jersey Manufacturers Company facility March 29, 2011 in Hammonton, New Jersey. A State Supreme Court appointed judge ruled on March 22, 2011 that his eight percent education budget cuts last year had violated New Jersey law because the state was unable to fulfil it's educational obligations. (Photo by Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

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Story highlights

Chris Christie says he disagrees with Pope Francis over U.S.-Cuba relations

He says Pope Francis is infallible 'on religious matters, not on political ones'

Washington CNN —

Chris Christie is Catholic, but he’s breaking with Pope Francis over whether to deepen U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba.

“I just think the Pope is wrong,” the New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate said Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

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“The fact is that his infallibility is on religious matters, not on political ones,” Christie said.

He blasted President Barack Obama for establishing closer ties with a country that has granted political asylum in the 1970s to Joanne Chesimard, the convicted killer of a New Jersey state trooper.

“And the fact is that for me, I just believe that when you have a government that is harboring fugitives … that this President could extend diplomatic relations with that country … is outrageous,” Christie said.

He added: “I just happen to disagree with the Pope on this one.”