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Pictures going viral this week show a smiling President Trump and a glum Pope Francis meeting in the Vatican. The mainstream media and pinko talk-show hosts are having a ball with the picture. Consequently, some Trump supporters are jerking their knees, claiming any discord between President Trump and Pope Francis qualifies as yet another form of “fake news!” The Trump press agency known as Breitbart.com, for instance, claims all was hunky-dory at the Vatican where Pope Francis was actually delighted to meet Trump. They even scrounged up a picture where --in sharp contrast to the ones going viral-- the...

From:hms@sandlerfoundation.org To: ses@sandlerfoundation.org, james@sandlerfoundation.org Date: 2015-06-22 18:26 Subject: FW: PICO: Vatican Visit I thought you might find this of interest. From: Knaebel, Sergio Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 12:58 PM To: Sandler, Herbert Subject: FW: PICO: Vatican Visit Herb, In case you did not get this from Steve. Sergio Knaebel Grant Director Sandler Foundation sknaebel@sandlerfoundation.org From: Scott Reed [mailto:sreed@piconetwork.org] Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2015 8:39 AM To: Knaebel, Sergio Subject: PICO: Vatican Visit Hi Sergio: I just sent a note to Steve with this summary of our visit to the Vatican. I look forward to talking soon. PICO sent a...

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the phrase goes. And after this snap of Pope Francis looking miserable while standing beside President Donald Trump at the Vatican began circulating online Wednesday, many people rushed to social media to suggest what some of them might be: Trump’s differences in opinion with the pontiff over issues such as immigration and climate change are well documented. But it would be unfair to say the pope looked completely forlorn throughout the president’s visit. Reuters news agency noted how he “smiled faintly” as he greeted Trump, but also pointed out that the pontiff...

Full article title: "Melania and Ivanka wear black veils to meet the Pope at the Vatican after deciding not to wear head scarfs on Saudi visit (just like Michelle Obama) - as Pope asks the first lady if she's feeding Trump cake" First Lady Melania Trump and the president's daughter, Ivanka, dressed in all black and wore veils to meet Pope Francis on Wednesday, just as former First Lady Michelle Obama did when she met Pope Benedict. The women traveled to the Vatican on Wednesday with President Donald Trump, who was meeting with Francis for one of his most high-profile...

In what can only be described as a cordial, successful meeting, Pope Francis received U.S. President Donald Trump in the Vatican Wednesday amidst smiles, handshakes and camera flashes. The two leaders sat down for a half-hour face-to-face meeting, with the Pope leaning out over the table with his arms extended toward the President. On parting ways at the end of the meeting, the President thanked the Pope for his warm welcome, stating, “I won’t forget what you said.” In its official press release, the Vatican described the meeting as “cordial” and said the two men spoke favorably of “the good...

The US president said it was a 'very great honour' to meet the Pope Pope Francis and US President Donald Trump spent 30 minutes speaking privately in the library of the Apostolic Palace May 24, and as the president left, he told the Pope, “I won’t forget what you said.”The atmosphere at the beginning was initially formal, however, the mood lightened when Pope Francis met the first lady, Melania Trump, and asked if she fed her husband “potica”, a traditional cake in Slovenia, her homeland. There were smiles all around.Pope Francis gave Trump a split medallion held together by...

Pope Francis on Wednesday gave President Trump a copy of his 2015 encyclical letter on the environment and climate change. Trump responded to the gifts by saying: "Well, I'll be reading them," according to pool reports. The Trump administration has been pushing to roll back Obama-era regulations on the environment. Trump on Wednesday met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. At the beginning of the meeting, the president said it was a "great honor" to be meeting with the pope. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes. Trump said after its conclusion that it was a "fantastic meeting." Trump in March...

On Wednesday, the US president will land in Rome from Israel. Appointed Callista Gingrich Ambassador to the Holy See At 8.30 am on Wednesday, May 24, two Americans will be shaking hands for the first time. President Donald Trump’s audience with the Argentinian Pope has been a big maybe for a few months as, up until three weeks ago, no request was made by the White House. Indeed, rumors had that Trump had actually decided to defer. Rumors that hit the spot. What changed things was the patient work of some of the President’s advisors along with some precise signals...

VATICAN CITY—When President Donald Trump visits Pope Francis on Wednesday, at the halfway point of a trip the White House has cast as a pilgrimage of peace, the two leaders will have a chance to reset an acrimonious public relationship. Yet the two men, famously divided on the pope’s signature issues of migration and climate change, could struggle to find significant areas of agreement. As of last week, representatives of the White House and the Vatican working on the agenda for the meeting had found few common policy priorities, according to someone familiar with the preparations. Vatican meetings between pontiffs...

Stacking the Deck: Francis creates 5 new Cardinals He announced it today, the consistory will be on June 28. The deck is getting stacked: They are Archbishop Omella of Barcelona, Spain; Bishop Arborelius of Stockholm, Sweden; Archbishop Zerbo, of Bamako, Mali; Apostolic Vicar Bp. Ling, of Pakse, Laos; and, bizarrely enough, from the Archdiocese of San Salvador, El Salvador, it's Auxiliary Bishop, Bp. Rosa Chavez (the Archbishop, named by Benedict XVI in 2008, is not a Cardinal).

ROME-Never one to shun surprises, Pope Francis today announced the creation of five new cardinals. The ceremony to induct the new Princes of the Church will take place on June 28, and the new cardinals will say Mass with him on the following day, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.The fact that the five cardinals come from “diverse parts from the world,” expresses the “Catholicity of the church, diffused throughout the earth,” Pope Francis said.The five new cardinals are: Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chávez, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador in El Salvador;Archbishop Jean Zerbo, of Bamako, Mali;Bishop Anders Arborelius, of Stockholm,...

Below are excerpts from Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta on Friday, May 19, 2017, on the same day as the speeches of the dubia signatories, Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Caffarra, at the Rome Life Forum. Is this Pope Francis' answer to the 'dubia' of the four cardinals?:  “So we are faced with two groups of people. The group of the apostles who want to discuss the problem, and the others who go and create problems. They divide, they divide the Church, they say that what the Apostles preached is not what Jesus said, that it is not the truth.” "There were...

Amid negotiations between the Holy See and China’s Communist government over the appointment of bishops, Pope Francis has asked the nation’s Catholics to remain “open to encounter and dialogue.” On May 24, which Pope Benedict declared a day of prayer for China’s Catholics, “we will all be united spiritually to the Catholic faithful of China, on the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, venerated at the Sheshan Shrine at Shanghai,” Pope Francis said to the faithful following his May 21 Regina Coeli address. “To Chinese Catholics I say: let us raise our gaze to Mary Our Mother,...

Though Benedict is still living, Francis is trying to bury him. Upon his election in 2013, Francis began to pursue an agenda that Joseph Ratzinger had opposed throughout his career. A stress on the pastoral over against the doctrinal, a promotion of diverse disciplinary and doctrinal approaches in local churches, the opening of communion to the divorced and remarried—all these proposals were weighed and rejected by Ratzinger more than ten years ago in a heated debate with Walter Kasper. For better or worse, Francis now seeks to reverse Ratzinger. The conflict began with a 1992 letter concerning “the fundamental elements that are...

Is the Pope conversing here with his successor?  (God help us if he is!)Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Knights of Malta  Has Bergoglio reached the end of his usefulness? And if so, what’s next on the agenda?  While most eyes are still lingering on the repellant business in Fatima, and watching the skies for fire from above, the rumour mill is firing up again. There are people around about who want information to come out, and they like to send it to me and to others we know who are doing similar work. I’ve also been having conversations with various...

Pope Francis thanked Genoa Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the outgoing president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, for his ten years of service notably "for the patience he has had with me." He added: "It is not easy to work with this Pope." Francis spoke at the opening of the general assembly of the Italian Bishops in Rome. Talking to the bishops he encouraged them to speak without fear, "I am ready to hear opinions that are unpleasant to me." In realty Francis has a long history of punishing or eliminating those who contradict or criticise him.

Pope Francis will offer his thoughts to the camera in a new documentary by Oscar-nominated director Wim Wenders, its backers have announced at the Cannes film festival. “A Man Of His Word” will see the Argentine pontiff respond to questions submitted from people around the world, with US production company Focus Features billing the film as “the first in which a Pope addresses the audience directly, discussing topics such as ecology, immigration, consumerism and social justice”. German director Wenders, who has been nominated for three Oscars including for his Cuban music documentary “Buena Vista Social Club”, said Francis was “a...

Pope Francis says he won’t try to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to soften his policies on immigration and the environment when they meet this month, but wants instead to find common ground and work for peace. Francis said proselytizing isn’t his style — in politics or religion. Speaking to reporters while traveling home Saturday from a trip to Portugal, Francis said he would say what he thinks sincerely to Trump and listen respectfully to what Trump has to say. […] Speculation has swirled about what Trump and Francis will discuss during their May 24 audience, given Francis has already...

The Vatican has announced that the Fatima seers Jacinta and Francisco, already beatified by John Paul II, will be canonized by Pope Bergoglio, following the recent approval of a second miracle attributed to their intercession. The ceremony will probably take place in May, during the Pope’s pilgrimage to Fatima. Good news indeed. And long overdue. But there is something else that is long overdue respecting the Fatima event: the canonization of Sister Lucia. She is clearly the primary visionary who was accorded a long life on this earth for the purpose of recording and making known what the Blessed Virgin...

What has been and is still being said on the secrets of Fatima are "useless speculation," because "what Fatima wanted to tell us was said publicly and openly" and Her message is "the core message of Christianity" that is "The announcement that Jesus has risen, that Jesus is alive, that Jesus is the Lord of history" Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of the Vatican State, said in an interview with the Vatican media on the eve of Pope Francis' 2-day journey in the Portuguese Marian sanctuary when, on the occasion of the centenary of the first apparitions of May 13 1917,...