"I will not forget what he told me." These are the words with which the American president Donald Trump took his leave of Pope Francis. At the time of the initial handshake, according to US news agencies, the US president had said "It is a great honor to be here". Two of the most powerful men in the world met this morning for the first time, after a series of conflicting statements that have seen them protagonists in the past. In fact, the Pope harshly criticized Trump's intention to build the wall on the border between the United States and Mexico and in general his anti-Islam and anti-immigrant policies, so one of the gifts he presented to Trump at the end of the visit. It was pointed out in the Vatican that if the three documents that the pontiff gave to the president are the same ones that he gives to visiting heads of state, the 2017 message on Peace Day with which Bergoglio wanted to pay homage to Trump is "less usual" .
The meeting was held in the Sala del Tronetto of the papal apartment, the two exchanged a cordial handshake and a few words of greeting. US reporters have heard The Donald say that he was "a very great honor" to be received. The American first lady, Melania Trump, was dressed in black, with a lace veil covering her head, in total respect of the traditional indications for audiences and official occasions with the pope. Melania, a Slovenian naturalized American, is Catholic. Pope Francis greeted the First Lady with a handshake and, after a few words, blessed a rosary that Melania gave him. Then the Pontiff greeted the daughter of the US president Ivanka, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and all the entourage, who in the first part of the conversation were in a hall of an audience apartment. Ivanka was also dressed in a black dress and wore a veil, according to the ceremonial.
This was the moment when the tension eased also due to a misunderstanding about what Trump eats. The Pope, looking at the physical grandeur of the president and his entourage, asked Melania in Spanish: “What are you feeding him? The “potiza” (a Slovenian sweet bread with nuts ed)?” Phrase only partially understood by the monsignor in charge of interpreting, who reported only half of the joke: "What are you feeding him?". to which Melania, taken by surprise, replied with a smile, whispering "Yes, pizza", a statement that sounds ironic given that the president's predilection for purely American food is known.
Among the gifts that the pope presented to Donald Trump, there is the message for the World Day of Peace entitled "Non-violence, the style of a policy for peace", dwelling in particular with the US president on some passages that he indicated while leafing through the booklet. "I am giving this to you so that you may be an instrument of peace", Francis told Trump, giving him the medallion with the olive branch that joins the divided stone, after explaining to him that it represents a "symbol of peace". “We need peace,” the American president replied. The other gifts from the pontiff were the three programmatic documents of the Pontificate: Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato Sì and Amoris Laetitia. Instead, Trump handed the pope a blue box, saying it contained “Martin Luther King books. I think she'll like them, I hope so." At the end of the conversation, the general atmosphere appeared much more relaxed than at the beginning of the meeting. “Thank you for the visit,” the pope said to Melania Trump, greeting them and also thanking the president. After the meeting with the American president, the Pope held the usual Wednesday audience.
After the meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican, the US delegation visited the Sistine Chapel, then went to the Quirinale for an interview with the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. Again, it is the first meeting between the two heads of state. After the handshake there was the presentation of the respective delegations. In the American one, in addition to Tillerson, there are National Security Advisor HR McMaster, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and political adviser Stephen Miller. On the Italian side there are, among others, the foreign minister Angelino Alfano, the ambassador in Washington Armando Varricchio, the diplomatic advisor of the Quirinale, Emanuela D'Alessandro.
The morning ended with a lunch with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni at Villa Taverna, the residence of the American ambassador where the Trumps stayed. The first words that the US president spoke to the Prime Minister referred to the visit to the Vatican. “We had a fantastic meeting with Pope Francis, he is a great personality,” Trump said, which he later affirmed “We like Italy very, very much”. At the center of the conversation was the G7 in Taormina, the migration issue as a global challenge, the importance of the climate issue and the question of trade, to reconcile freedom and reciprocity.
