5 Things Trump and Pope Francis Can Talk About If They Meet
Donald Trump wants to meet Pope Francis when he visits Europe next month. This was bared during a joint press conference with Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, on Thursday, April 20. The president is due in Sicily on May 26–27 for the G7 Summit, a meeting of the heads of the world's richest nations.
"I look very much forward to meeting the pope," Trump said at the press conference.
Rome reacted through Msgr. Angelo Becciu, deputy head for general affairs at the Secretariate of State, saying, "Pope Francis is always willing to welcome heads of State who apply for audiences."
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Now that the possibility of Trump getting an audience with the pope has been broached, the next thing to be speculated is the agenda of the meeting. Newsweek cited five topics that can be a point of discussion between the two heads of state.
Border Wall
During the campaign, Pope Francis was critical of then-candidate Trump's suggestion of constructing a massive wall between the U.S.-Mexico border.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the 80-year-old pontiff said.
Migrant Crisis
Another point of contention between the two leaders is forced migration, with Pope Francis saying that the world has a moral duty to safeguard people fleeing conflict from their homeland. The Trump administration, on the other hand, has begun sending migrants with no immigration papers back to their home countries.
Climate Change
Both leaders have campaigned for the preservation of nature. Last year, Pope Francis issued a landmark encyclical on the environment which warned that climate change is real and impacting all of God's creation. For his part, Trump signed an executive order in March that would shut down coal power plants to be replaced with solar and wind farms.
Bill O'Reilly
The famous newscaster was terminated from Fox News due to sexual assault allegations.
"I don't think Bill did anything wrong," Trump said of the TV news personality who supported him in the campaign.
The day before his firing, O'Reilly was photographed shaking hands with the pope at the Vatican.
The Thing They Have in Common
More than two years ago, the social media active Trump mentioned Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who had just been elected as Pope Francis.
"The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!" he tweeted.
