Well the meeting occurred. I would note that Ivanka and Melania were properly attired wearing black with veils, a fitting display of respect for the Vicar of Christ:
The meeting turned out not to be about Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, taking the American president to the woodshed about building a wall or closing borders to refugees.
Diplomatically speaking, they met as equals – as Heads of State.
There is a huge clash of styles between the two men: the pope, a model of humility; and Trump, more of a showman-businessman combo.
But Francis is all about finding common ground. And while Trump is known for his “Art of the Deal,” Francis has the divine calling for the Art of Persuasion. In that vein, a key exchange of the meeting was his gift to the president: copies of his three major writings.
The first is his encyclical, “Evangelii Gaudium” — The Joy of the Gospel. This is about finding the core of Christianity. It’s about real faith. It will speak to Francis’ reason behind his statement, “No true Christian would build a wall.”
Next is “Amoris Laetitia” — The Joy of Love. This is about family, about sexual mores, divorce, communion and all those thorny issues the church is dealing with as the meaning of “family” in a secularized world has changed. The key here is that it is neither conservative nor liberal. It was Francis’ unique way of speaking the truth in love.
And finally, “Laudato Si” — On Care of Our Common Home. This is the major encyclical on the environment and climate change. It had a big release in 2015, with many seeing this as a central focus of Francis’ papacy. It is an issue they may disagree on, but again, Francis is about persuasion. He’s letting his writing do the talking.
President Trump said, “Well, I’ll be reading them.”
Most of the real diplomacy work took place during the president’s brief meeting afterwards with the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher.
Reports called them “cordial discussions” that included talks about a joint commitment in favor of life, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience – all issues the Catholic Church is concerned about.
Go here to read the rest.
From the Holy See press office:
This morning, Wednesday 24 May 2017, the Honorable Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, was received in Audience by the Holy Father Francis and subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by His Excellency Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for the good existing bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America, as well as the joint commitment in favour of life, and freedom of worship and conscience. It is hoped that there may be serene collaboration between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States, engaged in service to the people in the fields of healthcare, education and assistance to immigrants.
The discussions then enabled an exchange of views on various themes relating to international affairs and the promotion of peace in the world through political negotiation and interreligious dialogue, with particular reference to the situation in the Middle East and the protection of Christian communities.
A perfunctory meeting between men who likely will be adversaries as long as they both are in power.
Update: Well, that didn’t take long. From Gloria TV:
The Italian website “ilsismografo.blogspot.com”, an unofficial mouthpiece of the Vatican, has heavily attacked U.S. President Donald Trump in the wake of his visit with Pope Francis.
For Il Sismografo it is “evident that Trump says everything and the opposite of everything.” It adds that Vatican diplomacy considers him as “not particularly reliable”.
The attack ends with a question, “Is Trump really a player capable of playing in a unique, transparent and linear way and, above all, in a way that is docile to soft power? To date, Trump has demonstrated the opposite in every moment of his public life.”
Go here to read the comments. Trump would do well to simply ignore the Vatican for the remainder of his term as President. As long as Francis is Pope he has no friends there. Ordinary Catholics in the US, on the other hand, are another matter.
Two things that occur to me after reading this post: 1) Francis’ giving copies of his own writings
to Trump smacks of that same egotistic behavior we saw when Obama gave Queen Elizabeth II
a gift of an iPod loaded with recordings of his speeches. And 2) It’s pretty rich to act friendly
and respectful in a face-to-face meeting with Trump, and then turn around and have him badmouthed
in Il Sismografo. Especially when that badmouthing includes an accusation of “say(ing)
everything and the opposite of everything”. I’d say that a supposed ally who behaves like that
is himself “not particularly reliable”.
I’m guessing that Pope Francis has likely insured that in any future dealings with President Trump
the Holy See will be humored and ignored in the most diplomatic, politest way.
“..Francis is all about finding common ground” .
“The key here is that it is neither conservative nor liberal.” “Francis is about persuasion. He’s letting his writing do the talking.”
???
Trump should go out of his way to praise the Catholic religion itself from a historical perspective and the great figures of the past, especially Christ himself, who pointed the way to achieving world peace.
And he in no way should acknowledge the Modernist vision of the Church and it’s focus on secular issues and Socialist ideology as expressed by Pope Francis who is essentially an anti-Catholic figure.