The Vatican and White House’s relationship stretches back a century, including to help thwart communism

The Vatican and the White House have been holding a close relationship for decades, and various pope and presidents have met in the capital of the state and in the Vatican over the years.

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday At the age of 88, after years of health problems, including chronic lung disease. Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until his death and met with three US presidents through his term.

Francis’ last tall meeting with the American leader was held just a few hours before his death when he was Vice -President Jd vance He traveled to Italy for an Easter vacation and met the pope on the most holy day for Christians.

“I know you didn’t feel great, but it’s a good idea to see you in better health,” Vance said on Sunday Pontift.

Religious leaders think about death, papacy and permanent heritage of Pope Francis: ‘Gived their mark’

“I pray for you every day,” Vance said. “God bless you.”

After Francis’s death, Fox News Digital referred to the high meetings and friendships of the Vatican and The White House has forged over the years.

Reagan and Pope John Paul II look at the prevention of communism

In the middle of the Cold War in 1982 – Only the year before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 – President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. They met in the Vatican.

Photo Gallery: Pope Francis over the years

The meeting was the president for the first time and the Pope alone behind closed doors, and An article from 1982 with details about visits He reported and came about a year after both survived attempts at the assassination of just a few weeks in the distance of 1981. The meeting marked the beginning of a close friendship of the couple as they worked on the defeat of the growing threat of communism on the world stage.

Two years later, the couple met again in Fairbanx in Alaska, where they delivered messages of peace in the world, while the tensions were between the communist eastern block and the capitalist western bloc.

“In the violent world, your holiness, you were a minister of peace and love. Your words, your prayers, your example has made you – for those who suffer oppression or violence of war – a source of comfort, inspiration and hope,” ” Reagan said. “For this historic ministry, US people are grateful to you and we wish you all encouragement on your travels for peace and understanding in the world.”

The friendship of the two world leaders is rooted in their disgust of communism, socialism and atheism that captured the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The Pope and Reagan administration worked closely to the promotion of the Labor Solidarity Movement in Poland, the home country of John Paul II, who encouraged citizens to reject communism in the satellite state of the USSR, previously reported to Associated Press.

The Vatican denied the formal alliance with the United States during the promotion of the workers’ movement of solidarity, but in recent years said that Pope John Paul II and Reagan have shared a common goal of fighting totalitarianism, the Associated Press 2004 reported.

Reagan, Ivan Paul II united for the purpose

In 1989, Poland became the first country in the Eastern Bloc to hold a semi-use election, which resulted in a major victory for the Solidarity Movement and led to the dissolution of the communist government in Poland. The victory had a domino effect on other countries because in 1989 it became known as the year, including the destruction of the Berlin Wall later that year and the possible end of the 1991 Soviet Union.

“Pope John Paul II and President Reagan worked together to end atheist Soviet communism,” the former Republican Government Scott Walker wrote in the 2020 Washington Times OP-ed of Reagan and Pope John Paul II. “The two had a divine plan to stop the Soviet Empire, which was involved in war in religion and individual freedoms. The Pope and the President helped with the collapse of communism and provided more freedom and opportunities for people around the world.”

Wilson becomes the first president to meet with a pope

In 1919, Democrat Woodrow Wilson became the first US president to meet Pontift, opening the door to the normalization of the opening line of communication between Washington and the Vatican.

Wilson traveled to Europe after the end of World War I and “called his Holiness Pope Benedict XV,” America, Catholic magazine, That year.

Vance was one of Pope Francis’s last visitors

“The president’s arrival was announced by the master of the Chamber Pope, who was waiting for Mr. Wilson in the throne,” the magazine reported at the time. “The president was immediately admitted to the presence of the Holy Father, who welcomed him most deserving. They spent about half an hour together. This, of course, is not officially known what the items they talked about were.”

The meeting, which came at the time of the current anti-Catholic feeling that arose from the influx of Catholic immigrants at the turn of the century, set a standard for presidents who forged the Vatican-and-man of such meetings did not normalize only decades later.

Eisenhower meets with Pope John XXIII

The President’s meeting with the Pope became common until 1959, when President Dwight Eisenhower visited Pope Ivan XXIII while visiting different countries, including Italy, The office of historian shows.

The second meeting of the Pope and the President has set up a new tradition.

Each president of Eisenhower met with the current Pope, a total of 32 meetings and in the USA Vatican since 1959, Fox Digital revealed.

First papal visit to the White House

It was not until 1979, during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, did the Pope trave in Washington and joined the president at a meeting at the White House.

Pope John Paul II was invited to the White House in the middle of his first papal pilgrimage to the United States in 1979, when we accepted him well Catholics And the nickname “John Paul, Superstar” by Time magazine because of the Laga crowd he attracted in the middle of a visit to Boston, New York and Denver.

Pope Francis’ views on business, economy through the years

“Sharing the belief that respect for the human rights and dignity of the individual must be the cornerstone of the domestic and international policy of the people, the Pope and the President have undergone their support for international contracts on human rights and international organizations and entities serving human rights,” Carter states at the time of the visit. “They agreed that the international community must mobilize its concerns and resources in order to deal with refugee problems, protected human rights and prevent hunger and hunger.”

The Pope who visited the White House was less frequent than the president who visited the Vatican. Pope Benedict visited the White House in 2008 when he celebrated his 81th birthday with President George W. Bush, and Francis traveled to the White House in 2015 and met with President Barack Obama. The other Pope did not meet the President at the White House.

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President Donald Trumpwho clashed with Pope Francis to environmental and political politics, plans to travel to the Vatican city later this week to attend the Pope’s funeral mass.

“Melania and I will go to Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome. We look forward to being there!” The president announced on Monday to the truth of Social.