Donald Trump visits Pope Francis but disregards signed gift

It's disrespectful for Donald Trump to go through the motions of paying a Vatican visit to Pope Francis, while rejecting the message given to him in the personal and signed gift of Laudato Si- the Encyclical written in support of care for the environment. 

Obviously, Donald Trump didn't read a word of the Pope's Holy Message. How crassly rude can a person, especially POTUS, get?  

Just in the remote chance a Donald Trump supporter will read this blog (long drive to right!), here is what Pope Francis wrote- in poetic prose:

"This sister (earth) now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters."

Moreover, Pope Francis explains:  "Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet. In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home."

Incidentally, remembering that Pope Francis is also a scientist who studied chemistry, he wrote this in the narrative of Laudato si:

"Furthermore, although this Encyclical welcomes dialogue with everyone so that together we can seek paths of liberation, I would like from the outset to show how faith convictions can offer Christians, and some other believers as well, ample motivation to care for nature and for the most vulnerable of their brothers and sisters. If the simple fact of being human moves people to care for the environment of which they are a part, Christians in their turn “realize that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith. It is good for humanity and the world at large when we believers better recognize the ecological commitments which stem from our convictions."

Unfortunately, there has been a simmering assumption among those who follow Donald Trump's path to chaos that the man really can't read. Therefore, he doesn't even try to read- obvious when forced to do so, it's laborious to watch him struggle with words.  

Nevertheless, perhaps someone can certainly read the Pope's Encyclical to Donald Trump. It might even be available in an audio or podcast, so he can listen to it while multi-tasking with Tweeting or playing golf, those activities which he seems to take seriously. 

Certainly, it would be a documented miracle if Donald Trump actually took advice from Pope Francis.  

Pope Francis gave Donald Trump a signed copy of his Encyclical on the environment during their Vatican visit. But, the Holy message was obviously disregarded, when Trump stupidly pulled America out of the Paris Climate Agreement.  

Here's why Donald Trump foreign trip was a "foul to right field"

“The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out,” she Chancellor Merkel, according to German newspaper Welt. “I’ve experienced that in the last few days.”

Although Donald Trump has typically engaged in self aggrandizement about his failed foreign trip to Saudi Arabia, Isreal, Rome, Europe and Sicily, the facts don't support his declared theory abut the effort being a baseball "home run". In fact, the baseball analogy only works if the evaluation will award the effort as "long foul ball hit to right field".

Here's why Donald Trump's foreign trip failed- it was a foul ball.  

First of all, Donald Trump looked absolutely ridiculous walking in the center of a group of huddled flowing Saudi Arabian sheikhs. After years of mocking Muslims, the appearance of Donald Trump at the center of their flowing attention just didn't pass the straight face test. "Strike one!", for optics.  Black suit amidst sheikhs just didn't work for me. Trump's Saudi effort didn't look genuine on either side of the international equation. Obviously, Donald Trump wants Saudi money and he's willing to sell his soul to get it. 

I hope these ugly photographs don't find their way into New York City's, September 11 Museum.

By the way, that gaudy medallion given to Donald Trump by the Saudi's, created for some "trumped up" ceremonial reason, would not look good in a Presidential history museum. Rather, it looks like the award belongs on an ebay clearance sale.

Second, Donald Trump did not make friends with Pope Francis. 

Rather, he simply visited with the Holy Pontiff. (Pictures said a thousand words.) I don't believe I heard "gracie" or "gracias", in Trump's response to receiving a signed copy of "Laudato Si", about the care of our common environmental home; it was a valuable copy given to Trump, from the Pope's own hands,. This is a beautifully written encyclical, easily understood in any of the languages where translations are available: "...now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her - earth - by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will...".

Like nouveau "American Gothic" rather than a Papal audience.

Third- Melania Trump's amazing and now historic hand slap. Hmmm. Not much more to say about that message.  In other words, "this isn't going well, is it?"

In fact, from the Melania shove to the hobnobbing with sheikhs, no single Trump moment from the foreign trip stood out as inspiring or even plausible.  Melania obviously didn't want her husband to touch her; but the sheikhs were all over the man.

Nevertheless, the ultimate strike against the Donald Trump failed foreign trip was summarized by German Chancellor Angela Merkel  
Following the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Sicily, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Europeans can no longer rely on the United States.

The G7 summit included representatives from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Leaders met to discuss the world economy, foreign policy, climate change and other global issues, and it ended with all countries reaffirming the Paris agreement on climate change—with the exception of the United States.

In its final communique from the summit, the leaders were forced to admit this fact, saying that “the United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics.” (Remembering how Donald Trump did not say "grazie" to the gift given to him by Pope Francis.)

“The entire discussion about climate was very difficult,” Angela Merkel said yesterday, “if not to say very dissatisfying.”

Merkel further echoed those sentiments today before an election rally in Munich, Germany. “The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out,” she said, according to German newspaper Welt. 

“I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” said Merkel.

Or, to put another way, in the words of former President George W. Bush (POTUS 43), said after Trump's awful inauguration speech, "Tha't's some weird shit...."

Or, in baseball analogy- the trip was a foul ball on a 3-2 count.