President Donald Trump may have gotten his front row seat at Pope Francis’ funeral, but the Pope rebuked him from beyond the grave anyway.
The posthumous criticism came after Trump was mobbed by a group of world leaders, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.
The pressure from European leaders appeared to pay off after Trump sat down briefly with Zelensky before the funeral, and then the White House announced that he would meet with him again afterwards.
However, it was Trump’s signature first-term policy of building a border wall that appeared to draw papal ire in the funeral eulogy. The policy was much criticized by Francis during his lifetime, and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who delivered the homily, ensured that the late Pope’s hostility to the policy was not forgotten.
Re said: “Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice, imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions … ‘Build bridges, not walls,’ was an exhortation he repeated many times.”
Trump and Francis had clashed repeatedly over the years, beginning in early 2016, when Francis criticized Trump’s plan to build a border wall, saying that anyone who thought only of building walls and not bridges “is not Christian.”
Trump responded angrily, calling it “disgraceful” for a religious leader to question his faith and accusing Mexico of manipulating the Pope. The bitter and very public exchange saw Trump label Francis as “a very political person.”
The homily may only have been an implicit rebuke, but after such a public clash over building walls, there can be no mistake that it was a deliberate and pointed one from the Vatican in front of millions watching around the world.
Trump and the Pope had a cordial meeting in 2017 despite the public barbs that had been thrown, but tensions simmered beneath the surface. Francis continued to speak out against Trump’s policies, condemning his withdrawal from climate agreements and his rhetoric on immigration. Trump and his supporters, in turn, painted Francis as a political operator meddling beyond his spiritual role.
On Trump’s return to office, their feud exploded back into public view after Francis denounced Trump’s plans for mass deportations as “a disgrace,” accusing him of punishing the vulnerable.
Trump’s allies hit back, mocking the Pope’s criticisms by pointing to the high, secure walls around Vatican City.
Trump’s decision to travel to Europe, thrusting himself into the heart of the continent’s biggest diplomatic jamboree, exposed him to intense lobbying from European leaders who violently disagree with what they see as his appeasement of Russia.
Nonetheless, his meeting with Zelensky raised hopes that a breakthrough in a peace deal on the Russia-Ukraine war could be imminent a day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” on ending the war.
Zelensky’s office posted photographs of the two men sitting on a pair of chairs in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered,” Zelensky tweeted. “Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
Hope surged further after the White House said the two men are due to meet again before Trump departs Italy.
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