Despite some rather public disagreements on issues ranging from economics to the environment to immigration, US President Donald Trump met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday. Although he has previously criticized some of Trump’s policies as “not Christian,” the pontiff said he would approach the meeting, squeezed into his schedule at the last minute, with an open mind.
“Thank you so much,” Trump could be heard saying before they went into their private audience. “It is such an honor to be here.”
Since Trump announced his presidential campaign, the two men have differed publicly on a number of topics. Pope Francis was a vocal critic of Trump’s plan to bar refugees from coming to the US and to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The pontiff called these policies “not Christian,” and said the job of leaders was to build bridges, not walls. The then-presidential candidate fired back that it was “disgraceful” for Francis to question his faith.
They also share drastically diverging views on the climate. While Trump has rolled back a number of Obama-era measures meant to protect the environment, Pope Francis has made educating the public on the risks of climate change a cornerstone of his papacy. He presented the US leader with his encyclical on the environment during their private meeting.
The pope has also voiced his condemnation of unregulated capitalism as a tool of the wealthy to spread poverty and misery, as well as capital punishment and the arms trade. Trump holds a series of different opinions.