Trump meets Pope at Vatican
President Donald Trump and Pope Francis, two leaders with contrasting styles and differing worldviews, met at the Vatican on Wednesday, setting aside their previous clashes to broadcast a tone of peace for an audience around the globe.
Trump, midway through a grueling nine-day, maiden international journey, called upon the pontiff in a private, 30-minute meeting laden with religious symbolism and ancient protocol.
Neither man, unquestionably two of the most famous in the world, repeated their prior criticism of the other. The statements released afterward were deliberately vague and contained only hints of areas of disagreement. Trump smiled broadly, the pope smiled less, but both agreed, at least for a day, to settle on the same message: the need to avoid conflict.
That theme was reflected in their words and their gifts.
The pope, upon completing their meeting, gave the president a medal featuring an olive branch.
“We can use peace,” said the president, concurring with the symbolism.
Francis also gave a message of peace and three bound papal documents that to some degree define his papacy and priorities, including the family and the environment.
The pope told Trump he signed the message “personally for you.” Trump said he would read the books.
In exchange, Trump presented the pontiff with a custom-bound, first-edition set of Martin Luther King Jr.’s works, an engraved stone from the King memorial in Washington and a bronze sculpture of a flowering lotus titled “Rising Above.”
“I think you’ll enjoy them. I hope you do,” Trump said.