“Thank you. Thank you. I won’t forget what you said,” said U.S. President Donald Trump as he told Pope Francis that he would take his words to heart.
Mr. Trump was with the pope for 30-minutes at the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican in a closed-door meeting before taking part in a joint photo session and exchange of gifts.
“Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis,” said Mr. Trump. “I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.”
Mr. Trump is on a 9-day international trip, which includes Saudi Arabia, Israel, and that Vatican, the three spiritual homelands of the world’s three main monotheistic religions as he attempts to parallel the public work of the Vatican to bring peace between religions. Mr. Trump and his entourage will also visit Brussels to connect with the leaders of the European Union, and the G-7 summit in Sicily.
Pope Francis gave Trump a signed and bound copy of his remarks from the last World Peace Day in September, and a set of English-language translations of his papal writings including Laudato Si, his 2015 encyclical on climate change. Trump is a noted climate skeptic. No doubt the pope hopes to influence Mr. Trump.
“Well, I’ll be reading them,” Trump said. “We can use peace,” he added.
Trump’s gift to Francis was a boxed set of the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., for whom Francis has expressed admiration in the past.
The two men exchanged verbal jabs during last year’s presidential campaign, with Francis saying Trump’s views were not those of a Christian. Trump responded that the pontiff’s remarks were “disgraceful.” However, the meeting at the Vatican was cordial.
In a statement, the Vatican expressed hope that the encounter would be the start of a “serene collaboration” with the Trump administration, a goal that strengthens both the Vatican and the United States on the world stage.
It said Trump and Francis covered topics including health care, education, migration, international affairs, and interreligious dialogue. There were no details of what was said, though both men probably spoke quite frankly.
“It’s important to both sides that there are open lines of communication,” said Giampaolo Malgeri, a professor of political science and international relations at Rome’s LUMSA Catholic University. Malgeri said the most important aspect of the meeting was to establish new ties between the White House and the Holy See.
The Italian media dubbed the encounter the “G-2” — a play on the G-7, or Group of Seven summit of the world’s most powerful leaders that Trump also met.
The audience with Francis came 124 days into Mr. Trump’s presidency, earlier than any of the 29 other meetings between a U.S. leader and a pontiff. George H.W. Bush, who visited Pope John Paul II 127 days into his presidency in 1989, held the previous record.
The Trump entourage — which included Trump’s daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security advisor H.R. McMaster — also visited the Sistine Chapel.
The first lady toured the pediatric care unit at the Bambino Gesu hospital on the outskirts of the Vatican city-state. Princess Diana, and Mother Teresa had also visited the hospital.
President Trump also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni later in the day.
Mr. Trump’s efforts to “make America great again,” would certainly include collaboration with the Vatican.
“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” Revelation 13:11.
Comments
Marie
Thursday May 25th, 2017 at 08:38 PMThe prophecy fulfilling right in our very eyes. Praise the Lord, we should be so thankful to our God the all Mighty and all wise in wisdom that we are called to be His sons and daughters privileged enough to be and that He has enlightened His chilren with the prophecy before hand. It says in Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I come to give peace on earth. ? I tell you Nay but rather division. The SOP explained because men wonders away from He’s teaching. From hearing the truth. If P Trump n P Francis meetings are to bring peace well its not going to be any peace but chaos. While Trump was meeting up with religious learders there was a bomb blast at Manchester more violence and terrorist attacks around the world. So the only way is to brings religious together to agree on one thing and all us students of prophecy we know about this. Unity of one world order. It’s just matter of time. God is still holding the winds. Lets all take heed of God’s Word in our live and be ready.
frank achila
Friday May 26th, 2017 at 03:07 PMThe son of perdition is becoming more visible.
M J
Friday May 26th, 2017 at 08:37 PMAt the moment, we cannot know exactly what was said, but the Pope’s encyclical Laudato Si, does mention Sunday Observance as a means to cure societal woes.
With pressure from the Pope, Evangelicals, Climate Scientist, and others, will it be any wonder if this Administration grants their wish?
Besides they’ve already promised to “destroy” the wall of separation between church and state. In addition, mentioned that our Constitution is bothersome!