Vatican translator's expression on Biden trip contrasted with grim demeanour during Trump visit

By Gustaf Kilander  The Independent

 

President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis at Vatican

The Vatican translator for Pope Francis had drastically different facial expressions in the meeting with President Joe Biden on Friday compared to the meeting with former President Donald Trump .

Twitter users enjoyed the side-by-side comparison video of the translator, showing Mr Biden’s meeting with the pope on Friday, and Mr Trump’s meeting with Francis on 24 May 2017.

Former Obama White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri called the comparison “amazing”.

Before they even met, Mr Trump’s relationship with Francis was already fraught. During the 2016 campaign, the pope appeared to criticise Mr Trump and his policy idea of building a wall along the US border with Mexico . The pope said those who want to build walls instead of bridges are “not Christian”.

When slamming the pope’s comments, Mr Trump suggested the Argentinian was a Mexican pawn. When the pair finally met, images of a grumpy-looking pope standing next to the first family went viral and were used for countless jokes.

Professor Shaun Casey at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University told NPR that US presidents meeting the pope is a “modern phenomenon”.

The first meeting took place in 1919 during President Woodrow Wilson’s time in office when he met Pope Benedict XV and the next meeting didn’t take place until 1959 when President Eisenhower met Pope John XXIII.

Mr Biden is only the second Catholic US president, following President John F Kennedy. Mr Biden told Francis on Friday that he’s the “only Irishman you’ve ever met who’s never had a drink”.

Professor Casey told NPR that the Obama and Biden administrations “discovered in Pope Francis a very willing partner to address some of these massive global issues like climate change, like refugees”.

“When you see that political policy overlap, you see a deepening of the ties and deepening of the relationship between the two entities,” he added. “And we are in one of those moments.”

“Biden is actually repairing a fractured diplomatic relationship,” the professor said, adding that the meeting will be “a signal to the Vatican that you have a partner now in the White House”.