Trump and Francis, both elected as outsiders, sparred from afar on policy and diverged on leadership style

When the newly elected Pope Francis returned to the front desk of his hotel in Rome to personally settle his bill a day after being introduced to cheering crowds in St. Peter’s Square in 2013, it was a first glimpse into the modesty that would come to define his papacy. But for one real estate developer turned reality television star observing developments from his penthouse in Manhattan, it was a sign of something else. “I don’t like seeing the Pope standing at the checkout counter (front desk) of a hotel in order to pay his bill,” Donald Trump, still years from mounting his first presidential bid, wrote on Twitter. “It’s not Pope-like!” There was little in common between now-President Trump and Pope Francis, who died Monday at 88. The two men sparred from afar on issues of immigration and the environment, adopted divergent approaches to the sumptuous trappings of their respective offices, and lived vastly different kinds of lives. “That’s why I’ll never be Pope!” Trump responded to a commenter on his post in 2013, who observed “the difference between the Pope and you is the Pope doesn’t have to constantly brag how great he is.” Yet for all the obvious differences, there was some overlap in how Francis and Trump arrived at their positions, and how they viewed their roles. Each was elected as an outsider and brought to their office a pledge to represent society’s forgotten: for Trump, the American workers who he said Washington passed over in an era of globalization; and for Francis, the poor and marginalized often left to the side of a fast-changing world. Both also sought dramatic changes to the institutions they ran: the sprawling federal government for Trump, and the billion-person strong Catholic Church for Francis. Trump’s 2017 visit to the Vatican When they met during Trump’s first term at the Vatican in 2017 — their only face-to-face encounter — Trump and Francis had already been tangling on the issue of immigration after Francis declared anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants was “not a Christian.” Trump had spent the 2016 presidential campaign vowing to construct a wall along the Southern US border to keep migrants out. Those differences were put aside during Trump’s visit, where he was accompanied by his wife Melania, who wore a traditional black veil. Both leaders appeared determined not to let their dispute spoil the encounter. And like most presidents before him, Trump emerged from his meeting with the pope appearing starstruck. “He is something, he’s really good. We had a fantastic meeting and we had a fantastic tour, it was really beautiful,” Trump said. Trump and the first lady had arrived to the Vatican about a half-hour earlier, his long motorcade and armored black SUV a stark contrast to the blue Ford Focus that Francis himself had arrived in to work that day. The meeting was not entirely devoid of politics. The pope presented Trump a copy of his influential encyclical document on preserving the environment, which was interpreted as an attempt by Francis to encourage Trump to adopt stronger efforts at combatting climate change. (It didn’t appear effective; Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accord a few weeks later). Like many world leaders who watch Trump from afar, Francis found Trump easier to talk to than his harsh language on the campaign trail might have suggested. He lightened the mood when shaking Melania Trump’s hand, asking her in Italian, “Did you give him potica to eat?” — referring to the Slovenian dessert few could imagine the glamorous former model whipping up in the White House kitchen. Francis also handed Trump a medallion etched with the image of an olive tree, which he explained was “a symbol of peace.” “We can use peace,” Trump responded. As they parted ways, Trump told him: “I won’t forget what you said.” Influential meetings with Obama and Biden The three US presidents who met Francis all found themselves moved by the experience in different ways. President Barack Obama took the rare step of traveling to Joint Base Andrews to greet Francis at the start of the pope’s blockbuster visit to the United States in 2015. Later, the pope led a short parade in his open-air popemobile around the South Lawn, which was crowded with thousands who had come to witness a rare papal visit to the White House, some carrying babies for the pope to kiss. The cultural moment couldn’t be denied several months later on Halloween, when the child of an administration official arrived to the annual White House trick-or-treating event dressed as the pontiff, complete with a tiny white car. It was on that visit that Francis met privately with members of then-Vice President Joe Biden’s family in the immediate aftermath of his son Beau Biden’s death from cancer. Counseling the Biden’s inside an airplane hanger at the Philadelphia International Airport, Francis “provided us with more comfort that even he, I think, will understand,” Biden would later recount. After he became president, Biden traveled to Rome amid a raging debate inside the US Catholic Church over whether he and other politicians who support abortion rights should receive communion. Afterward, Biden said Francis called him a “good Catholic” and that he should continue receiving the sacrament. Last year, as he was preparing to depart office under a cloud of disappointment following his exit from the 2024 race and his vice president’s loss to Trump, Biden had planned to visit Rome again to meet Francis. The trip was canceled amid wildfires in Los Angeles, but in his final days as president Biden awarded Francis the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Discord with the second Trump administration Trump and Francis would never meet again after their 2017 encounter. After Trump was elected to a second term, Francis took harsh aim at his administration’s plans for mass deportations, warning such a step would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.” It was a remarkable rebuke, issued in a letter to US bishops. It appeared to take aim at Vice President JD Vance for his defense of deportations on theological grounds. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the pope wrote, responding to Vance’s assertion that people should take care of their family, communities and country before expanding care to others. In some ways, the rupture appeared to reflect a growing rift between traditionalist American Catholics and the Vatican under Francis, which had sought to be more inclusive of same-sex couples, women and other groups. Still, the discord did not appear to seep into Vance’s meeting with Francis on Easter Sunday, just a day before he died. Vance appears to have been the last world leader Francis met before his death. He sat briefly with the pope in a reception room at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he has lived since his election in 2013. Vance, who has called himself a “baby Catholic” after converting to the faith as an adult, was on Vatican grounds on Sunday for less than 20 minutes, and the meeting hadn’t been confirmed ahead of time. During their short session, the pope gifted the vice president a tie, rosaries and three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance’s three children. “I pray for you every day,” Vance could be heard telling the Pontiff as they sat together at the Vatican.