Barely a year after Donald Trump and Pope Francis exchanged some strong words over the issue of illegal immigration, there is a question whether the two will meet when President Trump is in Sicily for the G-7 summit in May.
Newsmax posed that question to White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday, reminding him how the U.S. president, when in Rome, has always had an audience with the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church going back to 1959 (when President Dwight Eisenhower called on Pope John XXIII).
"That's a great question," replied Spicer, himself a Roman Catholic. "Obviously, I would be a huge fan of that."
However, the president's top spokesman quickly added "I don't think we're at that place in the planning process to make an announcement on any visits with the Pope."
Last February, while Trump was campaigning in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, Pope Francis stunned reporters on the papal plane by denouncing Trump's signature issue of building a wall along the Mexican border.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the pontiff said in response to a reporter's question about Trump.
Trump responded to the Pope by telling the Fox Business Network: "I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico. I think Mexico got him to do it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They're making a fortune, and we're losing."
In a separate statement, he insisted: "I like the Pope."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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