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WASHINGTON (CNS) — President Donald Trump will visit
the Vatican and meet with Pope Francis May 24 as part of his first foreign trip
as president.
White House officials said the visit will be part of
a trip that will include stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia before Trump attends a
NATO meeting in Brussels May 25 and the G7 summit in Taormina on the island of Sicily May
26-27.
The
trip was an attempt to unite three of the world’s leading religious faiths in the common cause of
fighting terrorism, reining in Iran, and “unifying the world against
intolerance,” White House officials said May 4.
The information was
confirmed by Paloma
Garcia Ovejero, vice director of the Vatican press office.
The
pope’s meeting with Pope Francis was to take place in the Apostolic Palace and
will include Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states.
Pope Francis, on his return flight from Egypt April
29, told reporters that he had not yet been informed by the Vatican secretary of
state’s office about a request for an audience from U.S. officials. But he
added, “I receive every head of state who asks for an audience.”
Trump said at an April 20 news conference with
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni that he was interested in meeting with the
pope.
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