Trump Breaks Tradition by Skipping Meeting With Pope Francis During Trip to Italy
Donald Trump is breaking presidential tradition by not requesting a meeting with Pope Francis during his maiden trip to Italy as president next month. Officials on both sides are downplaying the missed opportunity for a meeting between the two leaders and assured no one is snubbing someone.
Trump will be in Sicily on May 26–27 for the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, an annual meeting of seven of the world's largest economies. A senior Vatican diplomat said they were open to arranging an audience with Pope Francis if the president wanted to, but the White House had sent no feelers to the Holy See.
Aside from being the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, the Bishop of Rome is a head of state. The United States has had full diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1984 which makes the meeting between the two leaders a matter of policy.
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"The situation can change but [there] are only six weeks left so it looks unlikely at this point," the Vatican diplomat added.
Trump and Pope Francis have been at odds on the issue of immigration. In February 2016, during the campaign for the U.S. election, Pope Francis went to the U.S.-Mexico border where the president plans to build a wall.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian," the pope said. "This is not the gospel."
Trump, who was raised in a Presbyterian family, responded by saying it was "disgraceful" for the pope to question his faith.
"No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion and faith," he retorted.
The then-candidate added that the pope should welcome his election because he could defend the Vatican from the Islamic State (ISIS).
But the decision to forego what should be the first meeting between Trump and Pope Francis may have something to do with logistics rather than a difference of opinion. It turns out that the G7 Summit is sandwiched by two other important events: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting in Brussels on May 25 and U.S. Memorial Day on May 29.
