President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden sat just five rows between them at Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, easily in the other’s sight line.
Each man had his wife at his side.
But, despite the close proximity, the two men avoided any interactions at the three-hour Catholic mass.
Trump and wife Melania sat in the front row. The Bidens were visible behind them – both Joe and Jill in sunglasses.
They did not appear to interact.
Trump, on his way to Rome, said a meeting with his predecessor in the Oval Office was ‘not high on my list’
And he shrugged off his former rival attending Pope Francis’ funeral.
President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican
Trump also revealed he hadn’t known that Biden and wife Jill Biden would also be at the basilica for the service.
‘Oh he is? I didn’t know,’ he told reporters on Air Force One.
When asked if he would meet with the former president, Trump replied: ‘It’s not high on my list. It’s really not.’
The two men had a bitter rivalry in the 2020 election, which Biden won, and then again in the 2024 contest until Biden dropped out of the race. Trump ultimately won a second term.
Biden has called Trump a threat to democracy. Trump has questioned Biden’s mental capabilities and blamed him for the high inflation and shaky stock market.
The president, dressed casually Friday for the eight-hour flight with his tie off and shirt unbuttoned, told reporters on Air Force One he was attending the service partially because he won Catholic voters in the 2024 election.
Trump won Catholics by more than 120,000 votes when he faced former Vice President Kamala Harris.
It was Trump’s anti-abortion policies and his appointment of conservative judges onto the Supreme Court – who ultimately overturned Roe vs. Wade – that put the voting bloc in his corner.
In 2020, the Catholic vote was evenly split between Trump and Biden, who was the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy.
Trump himself identifies as a ‘non-denominational Christian.’ First lady Melania Trump is Catholic.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at the Pope’s funeral
The Trumps met Pope Francis during a visit to the Vatican in 2017 during the president’s first term.
At the time, Melania described it as an experience she would ‘never forget.’
She brought a pair of rosary beads for the pontiff to bless.
She is the first Catholic first lady in the White House since Jacqueline Kennedy.
But most may remember that meeting because of a cute moment involving the pontiff and the first lady, when the pontiff asked her what she feeds the president.
‘Pizza?’ the first lady was heard answering.
But it may have been a ‘lost in translation’ moment as some think the first lady said potica, which is a traditional sweet nut roll pastry from Eastern Europe.
President Trump and Pope Francis also had their differences.
In 2015, Trump said Francis was too political, and the pontiff later suggested Trump wasn’t Christian over his “build a wall” rhetoric.
Trump, responded that ‘for a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.’
The trip to Rome marks Trump’s first foreign trip of his second term. He is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia next month.
