Francis makes fat joke about president

President, famed for his love of fast food, took the quip in good part, beaming broadly

It could have caused a diplomatic incident but a culinary quip from Pope Francis seemed to have gone down well with Donald Trump and his wife, Melania.

In one of the lighter moments of his meeting with the US President at the Vatican yesterday, Francis made an apparent allusion to Trump’s imposing physical size.

“What do you feed him on? Potica?” Francis asked Melania, in a reference to a calorieladen cake that comes from her native Slovenia and is pronounced “potteezza”.

Reporters in the room thought initially that the First Lady had replied “Pizza!” But her staff confirmed later to AFP that she had appreciated Francis had produced a custom-made joke for her benefit.

Trump, famed for his love of fast food and his use of “fat” as an insult for his enemies, took the quip in good part, beaming broadly, as he did throughout the public parts of an encounter that lasted barely 30 minutes.

Both sides had been determined that the meeting would emphasise areas of agreement between the new administration and the Vatican, after some pointed exchanges between the two leaders over the last year.

These have included Francis calling Trump’s border wall plans “not Christian” and the billionaire tycoon suggesting the pope might be glad to have him in charge if Daesh attacked the Vatican.

Against that backdrop, Francis’s diplomatic advisers would no doubt have counselled the outspoken pontiff against any reference to Trump’s size. According to an interview he gave last year, Trump is 1.88 metres tall and weighs 107 kilos.