WHY IS POPE FRANCIS FROWNING?

Last week, the Internet was ablaze with a portrait showing a grinning U.S. President Donald Trump standing next to a frowning, slump-shouldered Pope Francis.

While observers may have interpreted the scowl as a subtle dismissal of Trump, the Bishop of Rome actually makes it a habit to look absolutely miserable when posing alongside visiting dignitaries.

Monday’s photo with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was no exception. As Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau cracked wide smiles in the Papal Library, Pope Francis once again dropped his hands to his sides and assumed an expression of bored indifference.

And according to veteran Vatican correspondent John Thavis, that’s all intentional.

“I think he’s trying not to smile,” said Thavis, former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service and author of the Vatican Diaries.

As Thavis told the National Post in an email, Francis is “acutely aware that a photo with a smiling pope has its own special value that goes well beyond nuanced Vatican statements on policy positions.”

“He’s trying to avoid even the slightest hint of political support or endorsement,” Thavis added.

The Argentina-born Pope is generally known as an ebullient and beaming host. And indeed, during initial meetings with both Trump and Trudeau, Francis could be seen smiling and laughing. But when it came time for an official photo, the smile was promptly dropped.

It’s a treatment that Francis has given to a who’s who of foreign dignitaries. Irish president Michael Higgins, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Princess Kiko and former U.S. president Barack Obama, among others, all came back from the Vatican bearing official portraits showing them standing next to a surprisingly uninterested pontiff.

The Pope is essentially in the same boat as Queen Elizabeth II. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen similarly has to avoid any sign that she’s giving special favour to any particular politician or visiting world leader. But she typically manages a non-partisan smile.