President Donald Trump paid tribute to Pope Francis in a post on Truth Social as news of the pontiff’s death emerged.
The late pope, who was born in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, previously condemned the U.S. President’s stance on immigration throughout his first time period in workplace in 2016.
Trump launched an announcement on the pope’s loss of life, hours after the Vatican declared the information.
“Relaxation in Peace Pope Francis! Could God Bless him and all who cherished him!“ he wrote on his social media platform.
Vice President JD Vance, who had briefly met with Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, was the primary to problem an announcement.
“I simply discovered of the passing of Pope Francis. My coronary heart goes out to the hundreds of thousands of Christians everywhere in the world who cherished him,” Vance wrote on X early Monday from India, the place he’s on a diplomatic mission alongside his spouse, Usha.
“I used to be comfortable to see him yesterday, although he was clearly very ailing. However I’ll at all times keep in mind him for the beneath homily he gave within the very early days of COVID. It was actually fairly stunning.”
“Could God relaxation his soul,” he added.
The vice chairman had been in Europe visiting the pope simply hours earlier than on the Domus Santa Marta “to alternate Easter greetings,” the Vatican stated.
Vance, who transformed to Catholicism in 2019, beforehand engaged in an “alternate of opinions” with Vatican officers over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse.
Trump, nonetheless, had beforehand been a vocal critic of Pope Francis after the pontiff criticized his resolution to construct a border wall with Mexico in 2016.
On the time, Pope Francis declared that “an individual who thinks solely about constructing partitions […] and never of constructing bridges, will not be Christian.”
Trump had declared his want to deport almost 11 million undocumented immigrants from the U.S., and regardless of figuring out as a “proud Christian”, he blamed Mexico for the pope’s remarks, calling the then-79-year-old’s phrases “disgraceful,” in line with a Facebook post in February 2016.
“For a non secular chief to query an individual’s religion is disgraceful. I’m proud to be a Christian and as President, I can’t enable Christianity to be persistently attacked and weakened, not like what is occurring now, with our present President.
“No chief, particularly a non secular chief, ought to have the precise to query one other man’s faith or religion. They’re utilizing the Pope as a pawn and they need to be ashamed of themselves for doing so, particularly when so many lives are concerned and when unlawful immigration is so rampant,” stated Trump.
Equally, simply days after Pope Francis succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, Trump lambasted papal etiquette, writing in March 2013: “I don’t like seeing the Pope standing on the checkout counter (entrance desk) of a lodge with a view to pay his invoice. It’s not Pope-like!”
Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned from the papacy on February 28, 2013, citing age and ailing well being. He died in December 2022 on the age of 95.
Nevertheless, Trump argued on the time that his resignation was pointless, writing: “The Pope mustn’t have resigned — he ought to have lived it out. It hurts him, it hurts the church…”
Upon being chosen to take the reins, Trump spoke on Pope Francis’ appointment, writing: “Congratulations to my Catholic associates on the choice of Pope Francis I to steer the Catholic Church. Those who know him love him!”
Trump visited the Vatican in March 2017 and stated Pope Francis was “a humble man, very very similar to me, which in all probability explains why I like him a lot!”
The White Home posted a brief commemorative message on X following the information, captioned “Relaxation in Peace, Pope Francis,” moments after JD Vance issued an announcement, posting photos of Trump’s 2017 go to together with Vance’s Sunday.
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