Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe asked why Trump and Melania are attending the funeral of Pope Francis, since the two men disagreed about almost everything. He thinks it is Trump’s way of consoling his Catholic base. The Pope and Trump exchanged harsh words. The Pope was a man of faith who called on the faithful to welcome immigrants. Trump hates immigrants. The Pope called for mercy and compassion. All Trump can give is hatred and vitriol.
Cullen writes:
There’s a great scene in “The Godfather,” when all the other Mafia bosses attend Don Corleone’s funeral.
Ostensibly, the Godfather’s rivals are there to show respect, but there’s the unmistakable reality they are not mourning a death so much as relishing an opportunity.
The image of Donald Trump sitting near the body of Pope Francis conjures the image of Don Barzini nodding to Corleone’s family as he calculates in his head how many of Corleone’s soldiers and contacts he can peel off now that the Godfather is dead.
Why, on God’s green earth, would Donald Trump deign to attend Pope Francis’ funeral? To show respect? To mingle with other world leaders? To get his mug on television?
Pope Francis was arguably Trump’s highest-profile critic, especially when it came to the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants.
In the aftermath of the pope’s death, Trump was uncharacteristically gracious, posting on social media that Pope Francis was “a very good man.”
Trump called that very good man “disgraceful” in 2016 after the pope dismissed Trump’s proposal to build a wall between the US and Mexico. The pope said that anyone who only thinks about building walls instead of bridges “is not Christian.”
Trump, whose base includes millions of evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics, hit back, saying, “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.”
For all the kind words he showered on the pope in the immediate aftermath of the pope’s death, it’s hard to imagine Trump disagreed with the less than charitable assessment offered by Roger Stone, the Trump advisor who avoided 40 months in prison after Trump commuted his sentence for lying to Congress to protect Trump.
Stone, displaying the compassion of a viper, said this of the pope: “His papacy was never legitimate and his teachings regularly violated both the Bible and church dogma. I rather think it’s warm where he is right now.”
So gracious.
But, give Stone this much: at least he was honest.
Trump’s platitudes ring hollow indeed. But the death of Pope Francis offers Trump and MAGA Catholics the prospect, however unlikely, of replacing a progressive voice in the Vatican with someone more ideologically in tune with the more conservative voices within the church in the US.
At the very least, Trump has to be hoping the next pope isn’t as withering a critic as Francis was.
Nearly 60 percent of US Catholics voted for Trump last November, according to exit polls.Another survey put the figure at 54 percent.
Either way, Trump, who describes himself as a non-denominational Christian, won the Catholic vote, decisively. The pope’s criticism of Trump when it came to the environment, the poor and especially immigration doesn’t appear to have dissuaded the majority of American Catholics from voting for Trump.
Catholics comprise more than one third of Trump’s cabinet.
The 9-member US Supreme Court that has been deferential to Trump’s unprecedented claims and exercise of executive power is comprised of six Catholics, only one of whom, Sonia Sotomayor, is liberal and regularly rules against Trump. (You could argue there are six conservative “Catholics” justices, given that Justice Neil Gorsuch, now an Episcopalian, was raised and educated as a Catholic, and voted with the five other conservative Catholic justices to overturn Roe v. Wade.)
Thomas Groome, a professor of theology at Boston College, acknowledges that conservative Catholics in the US have been a boon to Trump, and suspects Trump show of respect to Pope Francis and the institution is keeping with his transactional approach to pretty much everything: that the conclave of cardinals who will elect a new pope will reward Trump with someone who thinks more like him.
Highly unlikely, says Groome.
“Francis appointed about two-thirds of the cardinals who will select his successor,” Groome said. “Trump may be hoping he’ll get a reactionary, a right-wing pope. But I don’t think that will happen.”
Groome said he was more concerned about Trump’s reaction when the president realizes that, following Vatican protocol, he won’t get the best seat in the house at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“My understanding is he’s been assigned to sit in the third row,” Groome said. “He’s not going to like that.”
Still, gripped by Christian charity, and influenced by an enduring belief in redemption, Groome holds onto the remote, infinitesimal chance Donald Trump could, on the way to Rome, have a Road to Damascus conversion, that some of Pope Francis’ empathy could somehow rub off on him.
“St. Paul fell off his horse,” Groome said. “Maybe Donald Trump will, too.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In order to let all those lesser world leaders to bask in his glow.
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The convicted rapist, fraud and felon is there to make deals.
“Bribery is often subtle and relies on coded language and indirect communication. However, certain behaviors can be suggestive, such as prolonged eye contact that might indicate a willingness to deviate from official procedures, or excessively friendly behavior towards individuals offering seemingly unsolicited gifts. “
Then the sadistic sociopath asks them if they are free to go golfing.
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The sadistic sociopath is addicted to the media attention he’ll get. He never misses an opportunity. In this case Pope Francis often criticized him so he’s probably going to insult the Pope when the media mugs him because he’s always good for boosting AD revenues.
When the last time he insulted John McCain. Even when someone on his enemies list is dead, the January 6, 2021 Traitor can’t resist insulting them sometimes out of the blue for no reason. If he can’t hurt them because their gone, he wants to keep hurting their family and friends.
The old saying if it bleeds it leads is because large numbers of people are addicted to whatever he does. For laughs. For shock. For anger. It doesn’t matter. Bad news always attracts a bigger audience.
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Wearing a blue suit.
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Why, on God’s green earth, would Donald Trump deign to attend Pope Francis’ funeral?
To show respect? He doesn’t know how nor would he if he did.
To mingle with other world leaders? Yes, to sit with the cool kids but hang out with the bad boys.
To get his mug on television?
A) Hmm, Because “Nearly 60 percent of US Catholics voted for Trump last November.” Pretty good answer.
B) Er, Because his attendance will be acknowledged in sermons and eulogies across the U.S. Sunday morning. Possibility.
C) Nah, You’re right: “To get his mug on television”
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After Pope Francis passed, a social media satire post passed through the blogosphere that purported to be Trump’s immediate response. It was so typical of Trump and his raving on about himself that I felt compelled to google it to make sure it was not actually his own words. It is sad when satire cannot be separated from reality without checking.
As for Paul and the road to Damascus, we can always hope. Paul was, of course, involved in persecution of Christians before the scales fell from his eyes. It is his loud praying (in defiance of Jesus’ own advice to do so “closeted”) that has convinced so many that he has crossed into the fundamentalist camp. He would have to do a lot more than that to convince Christians who oppose his policies that he has seen the Lord in a vision.
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Well, Trump did not win this Catholic’s vote, not in 2016 nor in 2020 nor 2024. He did not win the votes of any of my Catholic friends and some of my relatives. My very Orthodox Jewish friend never voted for him either.
I suppose that the whole Judaeo-Christian tradition has a lot to do with it. The biblical insistence on taking care of the widows and the orphans and the poor and the aliens dwelling among us and many other “undesireables” is very clear.
Many of those conservative Catholics seem not to know that they are not supposed to support the death penalty. Their supposed respect for life is not for all life – only for unborn life. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, of fond memory, wrote an important document in which he spelled out the importance of a “Seamless Garment” belief, i.e. respect for all life from beginning to end.
Too many conservative Catholics have never accepted the rulings of Vatican II. They are currently fighting Francis’s new synods. Horror of horrors, Francis even gave women and other laypeople a seat at the table (the synods) and appointed women to high level positions.
Sincerely, Roberta M. Eisenberg (aka Bobbi)
>
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Some years ago I was taking care of the milking in my brother’s dairy barn. It was about 1993 or so, and a friend of theirs stopped by for some raw milk. They introduced themselves to me as “Catholic, before Vatican II.”
Many people do not understand the lack of unity within umbrella organizations.
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Trump at Francis’ funeral . . . in Rome with heads of state and reams of priests?
A richness of embarrassments. CBK
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“To get his mug on television?”
More than that!
Sickening.
From CNN: “Photographs released by the Ukrainian presidency showed the two leaders* huddled in close discussion without aides in the ornate surroundings of St. Peter’s Basilica.”
Not one bit surprising trump needs (like actually a ‘need’) to upstage the Pope’s funeral to make the death and funeral of a Pope, the Pope, all about him.
*as for CNN’s reporting, the editor missed where it should read “one leader and Mr. Trump huddled…”
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Evil reigns
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Donald Trump instantiates in the extreme every one of the seven deadly sins. Pope Francis knew that. It was blasphemous to allow this embodiment of evil anywhere near the good man’s funeral. And the stench must have been awful. No amount of incense could cover up the smell of the Orange One.
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