The funeral services for Pope Francis, the former head of the Catholic Church, started earlier today after the religious leader passed away on April 21.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to pay their respects, including Prince William, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Also in attendance were US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who are leaving Washington, D.C., on Friday.
While in Vatican City, Trump was observed saying a particular “seven-word comment” to his wife, but Melania was also spotted allegedly telling her husband to be more courteous.
Participants are reportedly asked to shake hands with their neighbors as a “sign of peace” during the two-hour event.
Speaking on behalf of Oddspedia, lip reading specialist Nicola Hickling of Lip Reader Limited told the Express that she thinks Melania turned to face Trump and said, “You should go do it.”
According to the expert, Melania even said the same thing before Trump allegedly replied, “Oh, okay.”
The POTUS then shook hands with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and French President Emmanuel Macron.
It wouldn’t be shocking if Trump was reluctant to participate in the “sign of peace” given that the US president has imposed high tariffs on countries around the world—a trade war that Trump felt compelled to bring up in the lead-up to Francis’ funeral.
In addition to being chastised online for wearing a blue suit to the late pope’s funeral rather than the traditional black one, which is seen as a sign of respect and sadness, Trump was also called “disrespectful” for his comments to the media as he was leaving Washington, DC.
Trump described Francis as “just a good man who loved the world, actually,” before departing. He seemed like a great kind of guy to me.
However, he added that he would have the opportunity to “meet with a lot” of other foreign leaders during the funeral.
“It’s going to be very interesting,” Trump told MSNBC. Many foreign leaders have expressed interest in meeting with us.
“Trade agreements are going great. I believe that Russia and Ukraine are making progress, but they are still very fragile. I also believe that Iran is doing very well. We’ll wait and see. We have a lot of projects underway.
A Twitter user responded, “My goodness. Please tell me Donald Trump isn’t going to try to work trade deals at Pope Francis’s funeral.”
“Disrespectful,” another added.
A third commented, “He should be shunned.”