US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive at Fiumicino’s Leonardo Da Vinci International airport, near Rome, Tuesday, May 23, 2017. Trump is in Italy for a two day visit, including a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, ahead of his participation in a NATO meeting in Brussels on Thursday photographed by Ricardo Antimiani/ANSA via AP.
Trump, midway through his grueling nine-day maiden international journey, will meet the pontiff at the Vatican early Wednesday where the two will have a private audience laden with religious symbolism and ancient protocol. The meeting will last scarcely more than an hour, yet could provide powerful imagery to Catholic voters back in the United States as well as the possibility for conflict between a president and a pope who have not often seen eye-to-eye.
Critical of Campaign
The two men’s often opposite worldviews collided head-on early last year, when Francis was sharply critical of Trump’s campaign pledge to build an impenetrable wall on the Mexican border and his declaration that the United States should turn away Muslim immigrants and refugees.
«A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,» Francis said then. The pontiff has been a vocal advocate for aiding refugees, particularly those fleeing the violence in Syria, deeming it both a «moral imperative» and «Christian duty» to help.
Trump has never been one to let an insult, perceived or real, go by without a response, and he made no exception for the world’s best-known religious leader. He called Francis «disgraceful» for doubting his faith.
And even the pontiff’s congratulatory message sent to mark Trump’s inauguration contained a sly reference to their disagreement, as the pope wrote that he hoped the United States’ international stature would «continue to be measured above all by its concern for the poor, the outcast and those in need.»
Trump arrived in Rome Tuesday evening, his motorcade closing a busy Italian highway just after rush hour and prompting hundreds of onlookers to briefly step out of their gridlocked cars to gawk at the fleet of armored vehicles. He spent the night at the U.S. ambassador to Italy’s residence and will make the drive to the Vatican early Wednesday morning.
Tour of Vatican
Though both Trump and Francis are known for their unpredictability, papal visits with heads of state are carefully arranged bits of political and religious theater that follow a specific program, with little room for deviation or unwanted surprises. Trump will be given a tour of the Vatican after he arrives and will then first meet with the pontiff in his library. The two men will then be left alone with a translator to hold a private discussion before emerging again to exchange gifts and farewells.But while Trump received extravagantly warm welcomes in Riyadh and Jerusalem, the reception could grow much cooler now that he’s reached Europe, site of widespread protests after his election. Climate change activists projected the words «Planet Earth First» on the massive dome of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Tuesday night and protests are expected Wednesday in Rome and later in the week when Trump travels to Brussels for a NATO meeting and Sicily for a G7 gathering, reports Associated Press..
