May 4 White House statement, “President Trump will meet with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss cooperation between the United States and RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES in areas of joint concern.”“My first foreign trip as President of the United States will be to Saudi Arabia, and then Israel, and then to a place that my cardinals love very much — Rome,” the president said, gesturing as he spoke towards Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

Just prior to the event, Wuerl and DiNardo president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with Trump about the executive order on religious freedom directing federal agencies to exempt some religious groups from providing birth control to employees and staff, as required under Obamacare.

When Pope Francis visited the US in September 2015, he visited the Little Sisters of the Poor in a clear sign of support for their position in the litigation over the contraception mandates.