It's well known that Pope Francis and President Donald Trump don't exactly see eye-to-eye on global climate change.
The pope recognizes the issue as a moral and religious challenge that must be addressed in order to make progress in alleviating poverty and other global goals.
And Trump, well, he doesn't think global warming exists in the first place.
CARD ID: 214650
In other words, there is a chasm between them on this issue. If anything, the differences sharpened in the days leading up to Trump's visit to the Vatican on Wednesday, with Trump still dithering on whether to keep the U.S. within the Paris Climate Agreement, which Francis supports.
In addition, Trump proposed a budget on Tuesday that would decimate climate science research across the federal government, making it harder for scientists to keep tabs on the changing planet.
It's against this backdrop that Pope Francis handed Trump a copy of his 2015 climate change letter, "Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home."
CARD ID: 214652
Francis also gave Trump copies of his other official writings, and signed a message of peace that he had issued. "Well I'll be reading them," the president said, according to a White House pool report.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One as it flew from Rome to Brussels, said it's unclear if climate change came up during Trump's audience with the pope.
However, it did come up in a meeting between Trump and the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
“I don’t know in the meeting with the pope, but it did come up with Cardinal Parolin," Tillerson said. "We did have a good exchange on the climate change issue.”
“The cardinal was expressing their view that they think it's an important issue. I think they were encouraging continued participation in the Paris accord," Tillerson said.
"But we had a good exchange [about] the difficulty of balancing addressing climate change, responses to climate change, and ensuring that you still have a thriving economy and you can still offer people jobs so they can feed their families and have a prosperous economy. And that’s a difficult balancing act to take, and so I think we had a good exchange there, and we look forward to having further talks with them on climate policy.”
TopicsDonald TrumpPolitics
(责任编辑：知識)
Pokémon Go is so big that it has its own VR porn parody now
Tesla removes 'self
No, Shaunae Miller didn't cheat by diving past Allyson Felix in Rio
Breakfasts lovers everywhere raise $90,000 for toaster of the future
MashReads Podcast: What makes a good summer read?5 people Tim Cook calls for advice on running the biggest company in the world
It's only fitting that the leader of the biggest company in the world has a pretty impressive list o
...[详细]I tested out a virtual reality fart simulator and it was as odd as it sounds
LONDON -- It's not every day you get invited to Paris to spend three hours smelling farts.SEE ALSO:T
...[详细]Michael Jordan sent boxes of gear to pickup player who wore full MJ uniform
Never let anyone tell you you're going too hard in a pickup basketball game; your efforts might land
...[详细]What's going down on day 4 of the 2016 'Dota 2' International
The unstoppable wildcard EHOME was finally stopped and Newbee and Alliance were knocked out of The I
...[详细]New Zealand designer's photo series celebrates the elegance of aging
Not only is age nothin’ but a number -- it can be a asset when it comes to style.。 That’
...[详细]Irish Olympian brothers talking casually after reaching Rio race will crack you up
Reaching an Olympic final is for top athletes a lifetime goal brimming with both joy and pressure. B
...[详细]This Olympic merchandise is so beautiful you'll need to own it immediately
Let's face it, there's a lot of mediocre Olympics merchandise out there.From pricey coasters, to pol
...[详细]#ThrowbackThursday: Olympian edition
Before Olympians were Olympians, they were cute kids like the rest of us. Even at just a few feet ta
...[详细]Dramatic photo captures nun texting friends after Italy earthquake
The image of an injured, bloodied nun, calmly texting friends and family in the wake of the deadly e
...[详细]3 startup pitches straight from the Matter media accelerator
If you've got the next great idea in media, Corey Ford wants to hear about it.Ford is the managing p
...[详细]Man stumbles upon his phone background in real life
Trump spokesperson reorganizes U.S. timeline, says Obama led invasion of Afghanistan
