INTERNACIONAL
Pontiffs and presidents: White House-Vatican relationship stretches a century, including fighting communism
The Vatican and White House have for decades kept a close relationship, with various popes and presidents meeting in the nation’s capital and in Vatican City across the years.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, following years of health issues, including chronic lung disease. Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until his death, and had met with three U.S. presidents across his tenure.
Francis’ last high-profile meeting with a U.S. leader was held just hours before his death, when Vice President JD Vance traveled to Italy for the Easter holiday and met with the pope on the most holy day for Christians.
«I know you’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good see you in better health,» Vance told the pontiff Sunday.
FAITH LEADERS REFLECT ON POPE FRANCIS’ DEATH, PAPACY AND LASTING LEGACY: ‘MADE HIS MARK’
A person holds a portrait of late Pope Francis at the Basílica de San José de Flores, where he worshipped as a youth, following the Vatican’s announcement of his death, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Gustavo Garello/AP)
«I pray for you every day,» Vance said. «God bless you.»
Following Francis’ death, Fox News Digital took a look back on high-profile meetings and friendships the Vatican and White House have forged across the years.
Reagan and Pope John Paul II look to thwart communism
Amid the Cold War in 1982 – just years before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 – President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican.
PHOTO GALLERY: POPE FRANCIS THROUGH THE YEARS
Pope John Paul II greets President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, on their visit to the Vatican. (Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
The meeting marked the first time a president and pope met alone behind closed doors, a 1982 article detailing the visit reported, and came roughly a year after both had survived assassination attempts just weeks apart in 1981. The meeting marked the beginning of the pair’s close friendship as they worked to defeat the growing threat of communism on the world stage.
Two years later, the pair met again in Fairbanks, Alaska, where they delivered messages of peace in a world on the edge as tensions between the communist Eastern Bloc and the capitalist Western Bloc flared.
«In a violent world, Your Holiness, you have been a minister of peace and love. Your words, your prayers, your example have made you – for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war – a source of solace, inspiration, and hope,» Reagan said. «For this historic ministry the American people are grateful to you, and we wish you every encouragement in your journeys for peace and understanding in the world.»
The two world leaders’ friendship was rooted in their disgust of communism, socialism and atheism that had gripped the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The pope and the Reagan administration worked closely to promote the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, John Paul II’s home country, which encouraged citizens to reject communism in the satellite state of the USSR, the Associated Press previously reported.
President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II meet, along with U.S. and Vatican officials, at Fairbanks International Airport on May 2, 1984, in Alaska. (David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
The Vatican has denied a formal alliance with the U.S. during the promotion of the Solidarity labor movement, but has said in more recent years that Pope John Paul II and Reagan shared a common goal of fighting totalitarianism, the Associated Press reported in 2004.
REAGAN, JOHN PAUL II UNITED IN PURPOSE
In 1989, Poland became the first country in the Eastern bloc to hold semi-free elections, which resulted in a resounding win for the Solidarity movement and led to the dissolution of the communist government in Poland. The win had a domino effect on other nations as 1989 became known as the year communism fell, including the destruction of the Berlin Wall later that year and the eventual end to the Soviet Union in 1991.
President Ronald Reagan sits with Pope John Paul II in Vizcaya Mansion. (Diana Walker/Getty Images)
«Pope John Paul II and President Reagan worked together to bring an end to atheistic Soviet communism,» former Republican Gov. Scott Walker wrote in a 2020 Washington Times op-ed of Reagan and Pope John Paul II. «The two had a divine plan to stop the Soviet empire that was engaged in a war on religion and individual liberties. The work of a pope and a president helped bring about the collapse of communism and yielded more freedom and opportunity for people all over the world.»
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president, and Pope Benedict XV met in 1919. (Getty Images)
Wilson becomes first president to meet with pope
Democrat Woodrow Wilson in 1919 became the first U.S. president to meet with a pontiff, opening the doors to normalizing an open line of communication between Washington and Vatican City.
Wilson was traveling in Europe following the end of World War I and «called upon his Holiness Pope Benedict XV,» according to an article published in America, a Catholic magazine, that year.
VANCE WAS ONE OF POPE FRANCIS’ LAST VISITORS
«The President’s arrival was announced by the Master of the Chamber to the Pope, who awaited Mr. Wilson in the Throne Room,» the magazine reported at the time. «The President was admitted immediately to the presence of the Holy Father, who welcomed him most cordially. They spent about a half hour together. It is not, of course, officially known what were the subjects which they discussed.»
The meeting, which came at a time of ongoing anti-Catholic sentiment stemming from the influx of Catholic immigrants at the turn of the century, set the standard for presidents forging relationships with the Vatican – though such meetings did not become normalized until decades later.
Dwight D. Eisenhower at an audience with Pope John XXIII, together with an official and his daughter-in-law Barbara Eisenhower Thompson, Vatican City, December 1959. (Mondadori via Getty Images)
Eisenhower meets with Pope John XXIII
Presidents meeting with the pope did not become common until 1959, when President Dwight Eisenhower visited Pope John XXIII while on a tour of various countries, including Italy, Office of the Historian documents show.
The second meeting between a pope and president set a new tradition.
Every president since Eisenhower has met with the current pope, totaling 32 meetings both in the U.S. and in Vatican City since 1959, Fox Digital found.
Pope John Paul II is welcomed to the White House by President Jimmy Carter. (Michael Norcia/Sygma via Getty Images)
First papal visit to the White House
It wasn’t until 1979, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, that the pontiff traveled to Washington and joined the president for a meeting at the White House.
Pope John Paul II was invited to the White House amid his first papal pilgrimage to the United States in 1979, when he was well-received by U.S. Catholics and nicknamed «John Paul, Superstar» by Time magazine due to the lage crowds he drew amid his visits to Boston, New York and Denver.
POPE FRANCIS’ VIEWS ON BUSINESS, THE ECONOMY THROUGH THE YEARS
«Sharing the belief that respect for human rights and the dignity of the individual must be the cornerstone of the domestic and international policies of nations, the Pope and the President underlined their support for international covenants on human rights and for international organizations and entities which serve the cause of human rights,» the Carter administration said in a statement at the time of the visit. «They agreed that the international community must mobilize its concern and resources to deal with the problems of refugees, to protect human rights, and to prevent hunger and famine.»
A pope visiting the White House has been rarer than a president visiting the Vatican. Pope Benedict visited the White House in 2008 when he celebrated his 81st birthday with President George W. Bush, and Francis traveled to the White House in 2015 and met with President Barack Obama. Other popes have not met a president at the White House.
Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the Apostolic Palace on May 24, 2017, in Vatican City. (Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump, who had clashed with Pope Francis on environmental and political policies, is slated to travel to Vatican City later this week to attend the pope’s funeral Mass.
«Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!» the president posted Monday to Truth Social.
Vatican News & Updates,Pope Francis,White House,Roman Catholic,World
Seguridad, polémica y críticas por la inmigración en Europa
La policía de Escocia refrozó la seguridad cerca del campo de golf de Donald Trump cerca de Aberdeen, este sábado. Foto: REUTERS Opiniones divididas
Manifestantes anti Trump, este sábado en Balmedie, cerca de Aberdeen, en Escocia. Foto: REUTERS Negociaciones con la Unión Europea por los aranceles
Donald Trump,Escocia
INTERNACIONAL
WATCH: Gabbard’s Obama bombshell has GOP demanding accountability while Dems question timing as ‘distraction’
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After reports that top officials from the Obama administration allegedly orchestrated a coordinated attempt to sabotage President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, GOP lawmakers are calling for transparency and accountability, while their Democratic colleagues are questioning the timing and credibility of the new claims.
Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, released a trove of intelligence documents beginning last week that Gabbard has said show former President Barack Obama and some of his closest advisors promoted a «contrived narrative» that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to sabotage Trump.
However, Democrats have insisted that congressional investigations already prove that Russia did help Trump in the 2016 election, while also questioning the timing of the allegations due to pressure on Trump to release more Epstein files.
«It is profoundly dishonest, and it’s dangerous,» Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News Digital, in reference to the allegations from Gabbard. «What I have urged the administration to do is engage in radical transparency, make it all public and expose just how much the Obama administration knew what they were doing – that they knew they were lying. I think anybody that violated the law needs to be held accountable.»
DNI GABBARD CLAIMS ‘DEEP STATE ACTORS’ DIDN’T WANT TRUMP-RUSSIA INFORMATION TO ‘SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, calls for «radical transparency» in response to Gabbard’s release of intelligence files alleging Obama-era meddling. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff told Fox News Digital he thinks the allegations are moot, pointing to former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s 2019 report, which he said «documented Russia’s efforts to help denigrate Hillary Clinton, which gave a boost to the Trump campaign.
«I think what Gabbard and her staff are doing is dishonest,» he added.
However, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford argued it has «long been established» that the Steele dossier was «clearly a Clinton plant» and that the Clinton campaign was actually «cooperating with the Russians to be able to actually use the Russians to be able to interfere with President Trump’s campaign.»
«What Tulsi Gabbard is pulling out is to say, ‘How deep did this go into the White House that they knew about the Steele Dossier, they knew it was a Clinton document. When did they start pushing this out, and what official resources were they using to try to add validity to this to be able to undercut the election?’» Lankford said.
«We got a long way to go still, but it’s good to be able to get all information out, to be able to pull it out there and to say, ‘Let’s let everybody look at it and let the chips fall where they may.’»
OBAMA-ERA OFFICIALS MUM ON ALLEGATIONS OF ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE LAUNCHING TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard addresses the press at the White House after declassifying documents she says prove a «contrived» Trump-Russia narrative. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | Fox News Digital)
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he believed Gabbard was doing the right thing, also expressing hope for extreme transparency amid the alarming allegations.
«Part of what this election was about, it was about transparency and government accountability. And that’s exactly what [Gabbard] is trying to do, and that’s exactly what the Trump administration is trying to do,» Scott said. «Let’s get the people the facts. Let’s follow where the facts are. If somebody’s done anything, we’ll hold them accountable. So, i think the right process is what’s happening.»
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst, questioned the timing of Gabbard’s release of the information, saying even her 10-year-old nephew understood the move as «a dodge and a distraction» to get eyes off the ongoing Epstein controversy. Amid Gabbard’s document release at the beginning of last week, Trump has been facing calls from within the GOP for the release of more documents and information pertaining to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst, questioned the timing of Gabbard’s disclosures, calling them a «distraction» amid calls for transparency with the Jeffrey Epstein files. (Associated Press )
«President Trump had four years in his first term, and all the time since then, to go after this issue, and he picks the same day that his name appears in the Epstein files to talk about Barack Obama,» Slotkin told Fox News Digital. «American people are not dumb. Like, we get it. Trump wanted to talk about something different. I have to see these reports, and see how they’re sourced. … I like to read and make my own assessment. But the timing can’t be missed. The president is trying to dodge and distract you.»
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While partisan affiliation may play a part in how lawmakers and the broader public view the Obama allegations released by Gabbard, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said he thinks the issue «transcends» party affiliation.
«Republican, Democrat, I mean, you know, this is something that transcends all that. This is really important,» Boozman told Fox News Digital. «Hopefully we’ll have open transparency so people will understand what’s going on. And whatever it is, I’m sure Congress will be involved, and certainly the Justice Department is involved. So, I think these are all good things.»
El director de la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados Palestinos (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, sostuvo este sábado que la reanudación de los lanzamientos aéreos de ayuda humanitaria en la Franja de Gaza es “costosa, ineficaz y puede inclusive matar a civiles hambrientos”, según sus declaraciones en la red social X.
Lazzarini subrayó que “el lanzamiento aéreo de ayuda no pondrá fin al hambre que se agrava” en el territorio palestino, afectado por una severa catástrofe humanitaria.
El viernes, un funcionario israelí indicó a la agencia AFP que los lanzamientos aéreos de asistencia humanitaria comenzarían nuevamente de forma inminente en Gaza, con Jordania y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos encargándose de la coordinación logística. El ministro de Exteriores emiratí, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, afirmó en X que “la situación humanitaria en Gaza alcanzó un nivel crítico y sin precedentes”, anunciando que “los lanzamientos de ayuda se reanudarán inmediatamente”.
La situación humanitaria en Gaza continúa empeorando, mientras organizaciones internacionales alertan sobre un creciente escenario de desnutrición, especialmente entre la infancia.
“Una hambruna provocada por el hombre solo puede ser resuelta por la voluntad política”, subrayó Lazzarini, y reclamó que la ONU pueda intervenir “a gran escala y sin obstáculos” en la zona.
El gobierno de Israel enfrenta una presión internacional creciente por la dramática situación humanitaria de la población gazatí. Israel impuso un bloqueo total sobre la entrada de ayuda el 2 de marzo, después de la ruptura de las negociaciones para prolongar el alto el fuego en el conflicto, que lleva 21 meses.
El ejército israelí comunicó el viernes que “Israel no limita el número de camiones que entran a la Franja de Gaza”, y argumentó que las “organizaciones humanitarias internacionales y las agencias de las Naciones Unidas no recogen la ayuda cuando ingresa al territorio palestino”.
Sin embargo, numerosas organizaciones en la zona denuncian desde hace meses que enfrentan grandes restricciones y dificultades para distribuir la ayuda dentro de Gaza, a la vez que el acceso por carretera permanece bajo un estricto control israelí. Cogat, organismo del Ministerio de Defensa israelí responsable de los asuntos civiles en los territorios palestinos, aseguró el sábado que había 600 camiones esperando ser descargados por organizaciones internacionales.
Paralelamente, se desarrolla una operación de ayuda a través de la Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, respaldada por Israel y Estados Unidos, aunque esta ha recibido duras críticas internacionales tras incidentes en los que cientos de palestinos murieron por disparos durante la distribución de ayuda.
El sábado se intensificaron los llamamientos internacionales para buscar alternativas que permitan entregar alimentos de manera efectiva a más de dos millones de habitantes de Gaza, con el Reino Unido comprometiéndose a apoyar los lanzamientos aéreos. Downing Street comunicó que el primer ministro británico, Keir Starmer, anunció la colaboración con Jordania y otros socios regionales para reanudar los lanzamientos y evacuar a menores que requieran atención médica urgente.
En una conversación telefónica con el presidente francés, Emmanuel Macron, y el canciller alemán, Friedrich Merz, el primer ministro británico también abordó el impulso de un plan para un alto el fuego inmediato y una paz duradera en la Franja, basada en la solución de dos Estados. Cuando esté preparado dicho plan, los dirigentes aseguraron que lo abrirán a otros aliados internacionales.
Más de 200 diputados británicos instaron recientemente a Starmer a reconocer oficialmente el Estado palestino en la próxima conferencia de Naciones Unidas en Nueva York, auspiciada por Francia y Arabia Saudí, pero el líder laborista sostiene que el reconocimiento solo es útil “como parte de un plan de paz más amplio”.
Desde el inicio de la ofensiva israelí, tras el ataque del grupo terrorista Hamas en octubre de 2023, han muerto 59.733 palestinos, la mayoría civiles, según el Ministerio de Salud de Gaza gobernado por Hamas. El ataque de Hamas causó la muerte de 1.219 personas en Israel, de acuerdo con cifras oficiales.
El grupo de activistas Freedom Flotilla informó que su barco Handala se acercó más que su antecesor Madleen, que fue interceptado y abordado por las fuerzas israelíes el mes anterior, en un intento de entregar ayuda directa a Gaza a pesar del bloqueo naval israelí. El ejército israelí señaló que estaba preparado para hacer valer el “bloqueo marítimo de seguridad legal”.
La comunidad internacional continúa buscando medidas más eficaces para auxiliar a la población palestina ante una crisis alimentaria y humanitaria sin precedentes. Mientras tanto, el debate sobre la mejor forma de aliviar el sufrimiento civil y garantizar el acceso de ayuda esencial sigue sin resolverse.
(Con información de AFP)
Middle East,Military Conflicts,KEREM SHALOM CROSING
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