Trump pays respects to Pope who publicly disagreed with him

Rome, Apr. 27: President Donald Trump on Saturday paid his respects to Pope Francis, joining more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries at the funeral of a pontiff who pointedly disagreed with him on a variety of issues. Trump also had a brief meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Both the White House and Zelenskyy's office confirmed the meeting, the first face-to-face conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian leader since the two, along with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, argued during a heated Oval Office meeting in late February.

White House communications director Steven Cheung said the leaders "met privately today and had a very productive discussion" and that more details would follow. Zelenskyy's spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said they met for about 15 minutes at St. Peter's Basilica and agreed to continue negotiations later Saturday. Teams were working to organize the follow-up conversation.

Trump arrived at the Vatican with his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and was seated in the front row, not far from French President Emmanuel Macron, for the outdoor service.

Trump told reporters on Friday as he flew to Rome that he was going to the funeral "out of respect" for the pontiff, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88.

Francis sharply disagreed with Trump's approach on issues including immigration, the treatment of migrants and climate change. The Argentine pontiff and the American president sparred early in their relationship over immigration. In 2016, Francis, alluding to then-candidate Trump and his campaign slogan of "Build the wall," called anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants " not Christian." Trump said the comment was "disgraceful."

But after Francis' death, the Republican president praised him as a "good man" who "worked hard" and "loved the world." Trump also directed that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff in Francis' honor.

Trump had said on a couple of occasions before leaving Washington that he would have "a lot" of meetings with counterparts on the sidelines of the funeral. But he seemed to back away from that as he flew to Rome.

"Frankly, it's a little disrespectful to have meetings when you're at the funeral of a pope," the president told reporters accompanying him aboard Air Force One. Nonetheless, Trump said: "I'll be talking to people. I'll be seeing a lot of people."

One person Trump didn't expect to interact with is former President Joe Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic who attended with his wife, Jill.

Biden, wearing his signature aviator sunglasses was seated several rows behind Trump, who had said he didn't know his Democratic predecessor would be at the funeral. 

Trump, meanwhile, drew the public's attention for wearing a dark blue suit and a lighter blue tie in a sea of mournful black attire.(AP)