President Trump meets with Pope Francis on first leg of European trip
US President Donald Trump met and held talks with Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Catholic Christians, at the Vatican on Wednesday, in the first part of his first trip to Europe in this capacity.
No information has been released about the content of this meeting, but President Trump is expected to discuss religious extremism in this meeting, as he did with Muslim and Jewish leaders in Saudi Arabia and Israel.
According to the Associated Press, after the end of the half-hour private meeting, the US President thanked his host and told him, "I will not forget what you said."
According to an old tradition, the two sides also gave each other gifts.
Pope Francis presented a medallion with an olive branch, a symbol of peace, and President Trump presented several books by Martin Luther King Jr., saying, "I think you'll enjoy reading them."
Donald Trump is the 13th sitting U.S. president to visit the Vatican. First Lady Melania, her daughter Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner accompanied President Trump to the Vatican.
This is Donald Trump's first face-to-face meeting with Pope Francis, who disagreed on a number of issues before taking office, including dealing with illegal immigration and climate change.
Last year, during the November US presidential election campaign, the world's Catholic leader criticized Donald Trump for promising to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
At the time, Argentine Pope Francis said that anyone who thought about building a wall instead of a bridge was “not Christian,” and Mr. Trump responded by calling the pope’s comments “shameful.”
After meeting with the US President, the Pope began his weekly address to the people in St. Peter's Square, and President Trump also met with the President and Prime Minister of Italy in Rome.
President Trump is then scheduled to travel to Belgium to attend a NATO summit on Thursday. He will return to Italy on Friday to attend the Group of Seven summit in Sicily.
Donald Trump, beginning his first foreign trip as US president, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning, then traveled to Israel, and departed for Rome, the capital of Italy, on Tuesday evening.
Source: Voice of America
