President Donald Trump paid tribute to Pope Francis in a post on Truth Social as news of the pontiff’s death emerged.
The late pope, who was born in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, previously condemned the U.S. President’s stance on immigration during his first term in office in 2016.
Trump released a statement on the pope's death, hours after the Vatican declared the news.
“Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!“ he wrote on his social media platform.
Vice President JD Vance, who had briefly met with Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, was the first to issue a statement.
“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance wrote on X early Monday from India, where he’s on a diplomatic mission alongside his wife, Usha.
“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful.”
“May God rest his soul,” he added.
The vice president had been in Europe visiting the pope just hours before at the Domus Santa Marta "to exchange Easter greetings," the Vatican said.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, previously engaged in an "exchange of opinions" with Vatican officials over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse.
Trump, however, had previously been a vocal critic of Pope Francis after the pontiff criticized his decision to build a border wall with Mexico in 2016.
At the time, Pope Francis declared that "a person who thinks only about building walls [...] and not of building bridges, is not Christian.”
Trump had declared his desire to deport nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants from the U.S., and despite identifying as a "proud Christian", he blamed Mexico for the pope's remarks, calling the then-79-year-old’s words "disgraceful,” according to a Facebook post in February 2016.
“For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as President, I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with our current President.
“No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith. They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant,” said Trump.
Equally, just days after Pope Francis succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, Trump lambasted papal etiquette, writing in March 2013: “I don’t like seeing the Pope standing at the checkout counter (front desk) of a hotel in order to pay his bill. It’s not Pope-like!”
Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned from the papacy on February 28, 2013, citing age and ill health. He died in December 2022 at the age of 95.
However, Trump argued at the time that his resignation was unnecessary, writing: “The Pope should not have resigned — he should have lived it out. It hurts him, it hurts the church…”
Upon being selected to take the reins, Trump spoke on Pope Francis’ appointment, writing: “Congratulations to my Catholic friends on the selection of Pope Francis I to lead the Catholic Church. People that know him love him!”
Trump visited the Vatican in March 2017 and said Pope Francis was “a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!”
The White House posted a short commemorative message on X following the news, captioned “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis,” moments after JD Vance issued a statement, posting pictures of Trump's 2017 visit along with Vance’s Sunday.
