President Donald Trump’s formal statement was very brief. “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” At the Easter Egg Roll on the lawns on the White House, Trump said, “I felt very bad for the Catholics. We love you all. We’re with you all. They were with me during the election, as you know.”

On Tuesday morning, Trump called Francis a “very good man who loved, loved the world, and he especially loved people that were having a hard time, and that’s good with me”. Trump could say that because his intersection with Pope Francis was marked by an upheaval that changed American politics.

US President Donald Trump and Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 24, 2017, during Trump’s first presidential term.Credit: AP

Just two days before he died, Francis attacked Trump directly for his harsh policies on immigration. “The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” the Pope wrote.

“What is built on the basis of........

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