US President Donald Trump met Pope Francis, one of his most high profile critics, at the Vatican on Wednesday and after an exchange of gifts he promised he would not forget the pontiff's message during their half-hour discussion.
Trump and the pope have expressed opposing views on issues such as immigration and climate change and the two men exchanged sharp words during the presidential campaign last year.
Under clear blue skies, Trump received a tribute from the Swiss Guard in a Vatican courtyard where he was greeted by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, the prefect of the pontifical household.
Trump looked uncomfortable as he entered a small elevator taking him to the third floor of the Apostolic Palace, where he was accompanied by Ganswein and other officials along a frescoed corridor to the pope's private study.
Following behind Trump were his wife Melania, daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, a top White House aide, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and adviser Hope Hicks.
The pope smiled faintly as he greeted Trump outside the study. Trump, seeming subdued, said "it is a great honour."
The two men then posed for photographs and the pope kept a stern face while Trump beamed for the cameras.
At the end of the private encounter the pope, smiling and looking far more relaxed, gave the president a small sculptured olive tree symbolising peace. Trump thanked him and said, "we can use peace."
Speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, the pope also gave Trump a signed copy of the message he delivered at the last World Peace Day and three of his major writings including his 2015 encyclical on the need to protect the environment.
"Well, I'll be reading them," Trump said.
He gave the pope a boxed set of writings by Martin Luther King.
As Trump left he told his host, "thank you, I won't forget what you said."
Trump's meeting with Pope Francis, his third stop on a nine-day foreign tour due to end on Saturday, was part of his world tour of religions after meeting leaders of Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia and visiting holy sites in Jerusalem.
While his talks in Saudi Arabia and Israel were mostly friendly, the meeting between the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the thrice-married, blunt-spoken Trump had the potential to be a little more confrontational.
SHARP EXCHANGES
The pope said last year a man who thinks about building walls and not bridges is "not Christian," a sharp reprimand for Trump's vow to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Trump said it was "disgraceful" of the Argentine-born pope, who represents just over half of the world's two billion Christians, to question his faith.
"If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS' ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president," Trump said during the campaign.
Trump's softer stance on environmental regulations also is at odds with Francis' view that climate change is caused mostly by human activity.
The Vatican also took a dim view of Trump's anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric, although Trump softened his tone considerably in a major speech in Riyadh.
Francis said last week he would be "sincere" with Trump but did not want to judge him before listening to him in person.
Part of Trump's motivation for meeting the pope was to dramatise how the three major religions should rally against the threat from Islamist militants.
“We thought that this trip was essential to put together the Muslim faith, the Jewish faith and then the Catholic faith, the Christian faith," said a senior White House official who briefed reporters on Trump's Air Force One flight to Rome.
"By putting everybody together you can really build a coalition and show that it’s not a Muslim problem, it’s not a Jewish problem, it’s not a Catholic problem, it’s not a Christian problem, it really is a world problem," the official said.
Trump at first did not plan to stop in Rome during his visit to Europe, which some in the Vatican saw as a snub. When he changed his mind, the Vatican squeezed him in at 8:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, an unusual day and an unusually early time.
Francis holds his weekly audience with the general public on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in St Peter's Square.
After the meeting, Trump moves on to Brussels for a NATO summit, followed by the last stop on his trip, at a Group of Seven summit in Sicily.
Reuters
Wed May 24 2017
Pope Francis meets U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania during a private audience at the Vatican, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandra Tarantino/pool
Polis tumpaskan sindiket seludup dadah ke Sarawak, tahan dua lelaki
Polis percaya berjaya menumpaskan sindiket penyeludupan dadah ke Sarawak dengan penahanan dua buruh binaan dan merampas pelbagai dadah bernilai RM1.76 juta di dua lokasi berasingan, pada Isnin lepas.
Umat Islam perlu celik digital untuk tunai umrah
Forum Umrah dan Ziarah 2024, kali ini diadakan di Madinah menjadi platform penting bagi mengumpulkan semua pemain industri perkhidmatan
Panggilan ‘daddy’ di pengebumian wira Wan Rezaudeen Kamal buat orang ramai sebak
Antara yang turut mengiringi perjalanan terakhir Allahyarham adalah Menteri Pertahanan, Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
AWANI Tonight: Bridging gaps in AUKU for better student empowerment
Amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act give students more autonomy in managing their associations’ finances. Rasydan Mohd Hassan, formerly of the National Student Consultative Council, explains what this means for student empowerment.
AWANI Tonight: UN Human Rights calls for independent investigation on Gaza mass graves
The UN Human Rights calls for an independent and transparent investigation into the mass graves found in and around hospitals in Gaza, including the Nasser Hospital.
AWANI Tonight: The US Senate approves bill to ban TikTok
The US Senate has approved a controversial landmark bill that could see TikTok banned in America, with President Joe Biden saying he would sign it into law as soon as it reaches his desk.
Capital A zahirkan minat beli lapangan terbang di ASEAN
Aviation Services iaitu perkhidmatan penerbangan di bawah Capital A Bhd menzahirkan minat memiliki lapangan terbang di seluruh ASEAN.
Nahas helikopter Lumut: Jenazah Komander Muhammad Firdaus selamat dikebumi di kampung halaman
Jenazah Allahyarham Muhammad Firdaus disemadi dengan penuh istiadat pengebumian ketenteraan di Tanah Perkuburan Islam Masjid Jamek Sungai Nibong Besar.
AWANI Tonight: 24 April 2024
#AWANITonight with @_farhanasheikh
1. MACC detains MB's son, five others
2. TikTok faces US ban
#AWANIEnglish #AWANINews
1. MACC detains MB's son, five others
2. TikTok faces US ban
#AWANIEnglish #AWANINews
Astro AWANI dinobat adaptasi AI dalam pemberitaan terbaik di pentas Asia
Astro AWANI dinobat sebagai pemenang Anugerah Digital Media Awards 2024 bagi kategori adaptasi Teknologi Kecerdasan Buatan (AI) dalam pemberitaan terbaik di rantau Asia.