VATICAN CITY — In his death, Pope Francis brought together more than 200,000 mourners, including a cast of world leaders who laid aside their temporal differences to remember him.
Before Francis’ funeral Mass in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very productive discussion” on the sidelines, according to White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Zelenskyy’s office released a striking image for the history books of him and Trump sitting knee-to-knee in St. Peter’s Basilica. It marked the world leaders’ first encounter since their disastrous meeting at the White House in February.
Ukrainian spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said the meeting lasted about 15 minutes. “The leaders agreed to continue the talks. The teams are working to organize a follow-up meeting,” Nykyforov said.
Trump even sent a post-meeting Truth Social — mostly focused on attacking The New York Times’ Peter Bakerfor his analysis of a “notably one-sided” peace deal — that tacked on some criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.”
In life, Francis bore the weight of the war — particularly repatriating the 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia, Joe Donnelly, the most recent U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, told POLITICO from Rome, where he had just attended the funeral.
“I think that Pope Francis would have been filled with hope, and would hope that the result that came out of that meeting would be a good one for Ukraine and the world,” Donnelly said of the image of Zelenskyy and Trump meeting.
Donnelly said during his time as ambassador, he worked with special envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi “almost nonstop to bring the Ukrainian children home who were taken by Russia and also to try to get peace talks started, and one of the things that Cardinal Zuppi and I worked so hard on was to try to get the parties engaged in peace talks.”
He continued: “Our dream was that the Vatican would be the perfect place for it — and look what happened today.”
Beneath an azure sky Saturday, the sun shining over St. Peter’s Square, and amid the sound of Gregorian chants and Latin litanies, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized Fancis, who will be buried at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, as “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”
Donnelly marveled at how many young people were among the mourners — “a crowd that the pope would’ve been so happy to see because it was people from all over the world, and it was folks he cared the most about: those who didn’t have much materially, but had the biggest possible heart spiritually.”
Donnelly said Francis would be remembered far beyond the Catholic faith. “I think his legacy will be that the people of the world loved him in every corner, in every place,” he said. “That people of every faith loved him, and if you talk about a goodwill ambassador for the Catholic Church, it’s hard to imagine anybody who’s ever been better.”
In that spirit, Francis also brought together — at least in the same setting — Trump and former President Joe Biden for the first time since an Inauguration Day tea. The Bidens sat four rows directly behind Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
Most of the service unfolded in Latin, but a brief reading from the book of Acts was delivered in English: “Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him …”
Donnelly said “President Trump made a wise choice” in deciding to go.
Trump’s explanation for why he decided to go to the funeral was, in his telling, “simple.” The president told reporters mid-flight on Air Force One Friday that he had decided to fly to Rome “out of respect” — before quickly pivoting to talk about how he won the Catholic vote.
“We did well with the Catholic vote, and our relationship is very good so therefore I think it’s appropriate,” he said, in one of his characteristically winding answers — and also a key tell.
The funeral was also, clearly, an opportunity for Trump to present himself on the world stage as he steers the country down an increasingly isolationist path.
In addition to meeting Zelenskyy briefly before the service, he spent some of the service chit-chatting with Estonian President Alar Karis. Finnish President Alexander Stubb appeared to offer him his water at one point. He also spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a couple of minutes before the service started.
The trip across the world appeared to underscore that for as much as America tries to withdraw from the world stage, it is still very clearly on it.
Donnelly, who recalled Francis’ simple way of living — his only earthly possessions were some books and records, he loved the tango, and he was quick with candy for the ambassador’s toddler granddaughter — spoke of the pontiff’s warm but nuanced affection for the U.S.
“He’d say, ‘I love America.’ And then he’d laugh,” Donnelly said. “And the laugh was kind of like: It’s a challenging place for me.”
Megan Messerly reported from Vatican City and aboard Air Force One. This story first appeared in POLITICO Playbook.
