Pope vows to be ‘sincere’ with Trump

PAPAL PLANE: Pope Francis said on Saturday he would be “sincere” with US President Donald Trump over their sharp differences on subjects such as immigration and climate change when the two hold their first meeting at the Vatican later this month.

But the pope also told reporters aboard a plane returning from Portugal that he would keep an open mind and not pass judgement on Mr Trump until first listening to his views at their meeting on May 24.

“Even if one thinks differently we have to be very sincere about what each one thinks,” Pope Francis said in a typically freewheeling airborne news conference.

“Topics will emerge in our conversations. I will say what I think and he will say what he thinks. But I have never wanted to make a judgement without first listening to the person.”

The pope’s meeting with Trump could be potentially awkward given their diametrically opposed positions on immigration, refugees and climate change, which he told reporters on the plane “are well known”.

Last year, in response to a question about then-candidate Mr Trump’s views on immigration and his intention to build a wall along the US border with Mexico, Pope Francis said a man with such views was “not Christian”.

Mr Trump, who grew up in a Presbyterian family, shot back saying it was “disgraceful” for the pope to question his faith.

The two men also disagree strongly about climate change.

Mr Trump signed an executive order dismantling Obama-era environmental legislation.

Pope Francis has made defence of the environment a key plank of his papacy, strongly backing scientific opinion that global warming is caused mostly by human activity.

Still, he said he was willing to find common ground with the president.

“There are always doors that are not closed. We need to find the doors that are at least partly open, go in, and talk about things we have in common and go forward, step by step,” he said.

Mr Trump will visit the Vatican during a tour of the Middle East and Europe that will also include a meeting in Sicily of the leaders of the Group of Seven leading economies.

Washington has had full diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1984.