Pope Francis and Vatican officials raised the issue of climate change with President Trump in their first meeting Wednesday in Vatican City, along with discussions of combating terrorism and famine.
The Vatican said in a statement that the pope and Mr. Trump discussed “the promotion of peace in the world through political negotiation and interreligious dialogue” and the need to protect Christians in the Middle East.
The White House said Mr. Trump “affirmed that the United States and the Holy See share many fundamental values and seek to engage globally to promote human rights, combat human suffering and protect religious freedom.”
“He is something,” Mr. Trump said of the pope later, during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. “We had a fantastic meeting. We’re liking Italy very, very much, and it was an honor to be with the pope.”
Mr. Trump also told the pope that the U.S. will spend $300 million in anti-famine efforts, primarily in Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria.
While the president and the pontiff set aside some past differences and exchanged gifts, the pope also challenged subtly Mr. Trump’s promise to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate change agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
The pope presented Mr. Trump with traditional papal documents for heads of state, including a copy of his 2015 encyclical on the environment that calls for significant cuts in fossil fuel emissions, a move opposed by the president.
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said the Vatican’s secretary of state raised climate change and encouraged Mr. Trump to remain in the Paris agreement. He said the president “hasn’t made a final decision” and likely will not until “after we get home.”
The president, on the third leg of an international trip taking him to the centers of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, met with the pope privately for 30 minutes in the Apostolic Palace. Mr. Trump was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and daughter Ivanka, both wearing black lace dresses and veils, and several White House aides.
The pope presented Mr. Trump with traditional papal documents for heads of state, including a copy of his 2015 encyclical calling for significant cuts in fossil fuel emissions, a move opposed by the president.
The pontiff also gave the president a message of peace and a medal symbolizing peace.
“We can use peace,” Mr. Trump said.
Of the World Day of Peace message about nonviolence, the pope told Mr. Trump, “I signed it personally for you.”
Mr. Trump presented the pontiff with books written by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., saying, “I think you’ll enjoy them. I hope you do.”
When the president departed, he told the pope: “Thank you, I won’t forget what you said.”
Later, Mr. Trump called his meeting with the pope “great.”
“He is something,” Mr. Trump said of the pope. “We had a fantastic meeting.”
The two men had clashed last year during the presidential campaign, when Francis criticized Mr. Trump’s promise to build a wall on the Mexican border and his plan to temporarily halt immigration to the U.S. by Muslims.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said at the time.
Mr. Trump had responded by calling Francis “disgraceful” and pointing out that the pope himself lives behind massive walls in Vatican City.
The president arrived in Rome from the Middle East, where he began his trip by visiting Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a city with the holiest sites of Islam. There Mr. Trump encouraged leaders of about 50 Muslim-majority states to combat terrorism.
His second stop was Israel, where Mr. Trump urged Palestinian and Israeli leaders to restart peace talks and prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.
Mr. Trump’s meeting with the pope completed his circuit of three of the world’s great religions in five days, a symbolic effort to unite people of faith against extremism.
“We thought that this trip was essential to put together the Muslim faith, the Jewish faith and then the Catholic faith, the Christian faith,” a senior administration official said. “When you put it all together, you’re really showing that this problem of radical extremism is one of the great problems of our time. By putting everybody together, you can really build a coalition and show that it’s not a Muslim problem, it’s not a Jewish problem, it’s not a Catholic problem, it’s not a Christian problem, it really is a world problem.”
Among those who accompanied Mr. Trump to meet the pope were Mr. Tillerson and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, plus presidential aides Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller and Dan Scavino.
Francis joked with Mrs. Trump about her husband, asking her, “What do you give him to eat, potizza?” She chuckled.
Potizza is a Slovenian treat, a stuffed pastry often served at Easter. Mrs. Trump is a native of Slovenia.
The signed first-edition set of Dr. King’s writings that were presented to the pope were meant to highlight his messages of love, understanding and peace, the White House said. The set includes: “Stride Toward Freedom” (1958), “The Measure of a Man” (1959), “The Strength to Love” (1963), “Why We Can’t Wait” (1964) and “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967).
The president also gave the pope a piece of granite from the “Stone of Hope” statue of the Dr. King Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The final gift for the pope was a handmade bronze sculpture by artist Geoffrey Smith of Stuart, Florida, titled “Rising Above.” It depicts a flowering lotus, which the White House said exemplifies “the possibility for growth and triumph in the face of trying times.”
Part of the pope’s gifts to Mr. Trump were three documents that he usually gives to heads of state, called “Amoris Laetitia,” “Evangelii Gaudium” and “Laudato Si.”
Mr. Trump is the 13th president to visit the Vatican. He and his family also toured the Sistine Chapel, and he was meeting later with the Italian president and prime minister before leaving for a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.