What happened?
The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will meet President Trump later this month. Trump will visit Israel and Saudi Arabia before going to the Vatican, then on to Brussels for a Nato summit and then Sicily for a G7 meeting.
The papal audience will take place at 8.30am on a Wednesday, “squeezed in”, said Reuters, before the Pope’s weekly general audience. A few days earlier, Francis had said that he was not aware of any request from Trump for a meeting.
What the British media are saying
The Press focused on what Newsweek called the “short-but-rocky relationship” between the two leaders. It quoted the Pope’s apparent allusion to Trump’s planned Mexican wall: “A person who thinks only about building walls … and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Trump responded: “No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”
The Independent said that “things might get awkward when the blustering American president and the soft-spoken pontiff touch base”, citing their differences over immigration and climate change. Francis released an encyclical “calling on Christians to protect the planet”, it noted, while Trump “openly mocked climate change”, even saying it was “a hoax created by China”.
What the vaticanisti are saying
The Catholic press said much the same; Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia wrote of “a history of direct and prominent clashes that knows no precedent”, while noting that Trump’s presidency was “made possible by the Republican’s win of a majority among white American Catholics”. Pete Baklinski observed on LifeSiteNews that soon after Trump was sworn in, Francis said pointedly that “Hitler didn’t steal power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people.”
But while accepting that they are “a study in contrasts – Francis the man of simplicity and humility, Trump an icon of bombast”, John Allen at Crux speculated: “Despite it all, Francis and Trump may just hit it off.” Both, he argued, are “anti-establishment figures” shaking up “entrenched ways of doing business”.
✣ Holy See and Burma to exchange ambassadors
What happened?
The Holy See has established full diplomatic relations with Burma after Pope Francis and Aung San Suu Kyi, de facto head of the government of Burma, met last week. The Pope presented Suu Kyi with a bronze medallion depicting a desert turning to bloom, symbolising the change when people open their hearts to growth and harmony.
Why was it under-reported?
Burma seems to have fallen off the news agenda since Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, took power in November 2015, becoming the first civilian-led government in the country in half a century. Democracy has to some extent prevailed, and Suu Kyi is no longer the persecuted underdog, so there is no longer a compelling story.
In addition, the media rarely show any interest in Vatican diplomacy – in this case, the appointment of a nuncio to Burma and the founding of a Burmese embassy to the Vatican.
What will happen next?
The Holy See may be hoping that the establishment of formal diplomatic relations will allow a stronger influence on Burma, which still has major human rights issues despite Suu Kyi’s leadership. The military still has significant political power, and 200 political prisoners remain in jail. Ethnic minorities are oppressed: Christians in Kachin State and northern Shan State, and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. Despite Suu Kyi’s own credentials, Burma is accused of turning a blind eye to widespread persecution.
✣The week ahead
Pope Francis will make a two-day pilgrimage to Fatima tomorrow and on Sunday. He will lead the evening recitation of the rosary and celebrate Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima on the 100th anniversary of Mary’s appearance to three shepherd children in 1917. Earlier he will meet the Portuguese president, and later have lunch with Portugal’s bishops.
Festivals will be held in the Philippines (right), South America and Spain on Monday to celebrate St Isidore the Farmer (c 1070-1130), patron saint of farmers and of Madrid. He was known for his kindness to the poor and animals.
On Monday there will be a debate at St Wilfrid’s Hall at the London Oratory between Catholic writer and apologist Peter D Williams and Dr James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and pastor of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, on “Do the Catholic Church’s Doctrines on Mary Constitute Authentic Christian Teaching?” It starts at 6.45; £5.
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