‘Pope Francis was the rare leader who made us want to be better people’—Barack Obama

* Michelle and I mourn with everyone around the world — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — who drew strength and inspiration from the Pope’s example

* May we continue to heed his call to “never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope

Maravi Express

In his eulogy of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 12, and laid to rest last Saturday, former US President Barack Obama pleads with the world — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — to continue to heed Francis’ call to “never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope”.

“In his humility and his gestures at once simple and profound — embracing the sick, ministering to the homeless, washing the feet of young prisoners — he shook us out of our complacency and reminded us that we are all bound by moral obligations to God and one another.

“Michelle and I mourn with everyone around the world — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — who drew strength and inspiration from the Pope’s example.”

In a report on USA Today, Michael Collins takes note that Obama was moved by Pope Francis’ moral perspective on world problems; Donald Trump said the pontiff made him more determined than ever to pursue peace; and Joe Biden said he was happy he was a good Catholic.

Collins writes: There was a time when the idea of a president meeting with a pope would have been unthinkable. Anti-immigrant sentiments in the 19th century focused on Catholics, with popes portrayed as manipulative leaders of a mysterious fringe religion.

But times change. So do popes and presidents. By the time Francis took over as leader of the Catholic Church in 2013, meetings between the president and the pontiff had become commonplace.

During the dozen years that he served as the pontiff, Francis met each of the three men who served as the US president during his papacy.

The pope’s confabs with the American leaders took place at the Vatican and in Washington and included presidents from both political parties.

Francis had been Pope just a little over a year when he met with Obama for the first time in Rome in March 2014. The two leaders didn’t see eye to eye on some issues — the church opposed same-sex marriage, which Obama supported.

And the Vatican objected to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that Catholic hospitals and institutions provide health plans that cover contraceptive drugs and abortion-inducing medications, such as morning-after pills, which the church opposed on moral grounds.

But Obama said those issues didn’t come up during his meeting with Francis that came about midway through his second term in the White House.

They talked instead about international conflict, human rights and religious freedom and “the responsibilities that we all share to care for the least of these, the poor, the excluded,” Obama said.

“I was extremely moved by his insights about the importance of us all having a moral perspective on world problems and not simply thinking in terms of our own narrow self-interests,” Obama added.

Obama invited the pope to visit the United States — the next year, he did. On September 22, 2015, Pope Francis’ gleaming white Alitalia plane – colloquially known as ‘Shepherd One’ – touched down at Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington as the pontiff began a historic six-day, three-city visit.

It was the first time Francis had set foot on American soil. The Spanish-speaking pope arrived in the United States via Cuba, where he had met with Fidel Castro in what the Vatican described as an “informal and friendly” encounter.

In Washington, Francis waved to cheering crowds, embraced children and basked in the pageantry of an official arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn. Standing alongside Obama before a crowd of politicians, luminaries and ordinary citizens, Francis endorsed Obama’s efforts to cut air pollution and combat climate change.

“When it comes to the care of our ‘common home,’ we are living at a critical moment of history,” he said. Obama said Francis reminded the world that “we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet – God’s magnificent gift to us”.

The next day, Francis made history when he became the first pope to address a joint session of Congress. Outside the US Capitol, a crowd estimated at 50,000 watched the pope’s speech live on Jumbotrons. The masses cheered when he invoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery and urged lawmakers to embrace “the stranger in our midst.”

A few minutes after wrapping up his speech, Pope Francis appeared on a Capitol balcony with a group of dignitaries that included two prominent Catholics, Biden and House Speaker John Boehner. The pontiff blessed the masses below and asked them to pray for him.

Trump battles with ‘pretty good guy’ Pope Francis

Trump feuded with Pope Francis long before he ever met him. A few days after Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected in 2013 to be the next pope of the Catholic Church, Trump — then a businessman and TV reality star — questioned the frugality of the man who would become known as Pope Francis.

“I don’t like seeing the Pope standing at the checkout counter (front desk) of a hotel in order to pay his bill,” Trump tweeted. “It’s not Pope-like!”

By the time Trump declared his candidacy and emerged as the GOP frontrunner two years later in 2015, he declared that the Pope “seems like a pretty good guy” but complained that he was too political.

Asked during an interview on CNN how he’d respond if the pope told him capitalism was too toxic, he replied, “I’d say, ‘ISIS wants to get you.’”

A few months later, Trump said the Pope doesn’t understand the problems the United States faces, particularly the open border with Mexico. The Pope suggested Trump “is not a Christian” amid the Republican’s calls for deporting immigrants and building a wall along the US-Mexican border.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis told journalists. “This is not the gospel.” To which Trump responded that the pontiff’s remarks were “disgraceful”.

Four months after Trump became president, he met with Francis as part of his first trip abroad as leader of the free world. The private meeting took place on May 24, 2017, at Vatican City.

Photos before their meeting showed Trump smiling broadly, while the pope appeared stern — however, the pontiff emerged from their talk with a more upbeat look.

The Pope gave Trump a signed-and-bound copy of his remarks from World Peace Day and a set of English-language translations of his papal writings, including his 2015 encyclical on climate change.

Below are picture highlights of Pope Francis: