The tensions between the US and France over the Russian-Ukrainian crisis may have caused Pope Francis’ funeral to be affected, since the French leader seemed to be ignoring Donald Trump.
On the day of the pope’s life and work liturgy, President Trump conferred with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to work out a peace agreement with Russia.
To greet him, Macron arrived in Kyiv as he visited with Zelensky and put his hand around it.
While they chatted, Trump appeared to reach to grab Macron’s arm in one step before moving it between the two for what many believed would be a handshake.
The two got into a sharp exchange of words, only the Frenchman never quite got back what he or she gave.
In the footage, Macron’s hands, shown hanging close to Trump’s forearm, are shown as if he has overshot the handshake and pulled back, with the man’s hand brought up to the elbow of the US leader. The two, however, never made a single eye contact.
Now, many think that European leader deliberately shunned Trump with the same professionalism and affection with which he greeted Zelensky, who seemed awkward between the two.
But it was reported that Melania encouraged her husband to take part in the Catholic ritual, which is why Macron and Trump were seen holding hands during the sign of peace at Francis’ mass.
Macron and Trump’s recent tensions, however, revolve around their divergent views of the best way to deal with the international issue, and the amount that the US and Europe have paid in Ukraine’s aid.
The two spoke together in February at a White House press conference about the peace accord for Ukraine.
Known for being concise, Macron aimed to set the record straight with his American counterpart on the amount of assistance Europe had supplied to Ukraine and warn Trump against giving in to Putin.
They did used to talk about their bromance. And every US-French narrative was accompanied with photos of them smiling and holding hands in the White House Rose Garden.
Sadly, that has since deteriorated because of the conflict in Ukraine.
In addition, the US Vice President JD Vance, thoroughly bashed the Ukrainian leader in a disastrous White House meeting with Zelensky in February, whose comments made it appear that he simply could not care about the hand that fed him.
World leaders, including then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Macron, stood behind Zelensky, who replied with a ‘Thank you’ to each line posted by X, among them Macron.
It is also strange how Zelensky and Trump have apparently made peace as the Ukrainian posted on social media after the Vatican gathering to put it down as ‘a good meeting.’
“A lot went on one on one.” He wrote hoping for results on everything we covered. It is a very symbolic meeting, has potential to be historic if we manage to reach joint results.” Thank you, POTUS.”
On Saturday, when the pope was buried both the United States and France made an error: Biden wore a blue tie, Trump a blue suit, and Brigitte Macron’s wife chose to not put her headscarf.
At the funeral, women were permitted to wear a formal dress or a modest black dress that ended below the knee, while men are allowed to come in a dark suit with a long black tie and white shirt.
They are required to wear a black head scarf or similar as part of the dress code for a papal funeral, as shown by Melania Trump, Spain’s Queen Letizia, former US First Lady Jill Biden and Norway’s Crown Princess Mette Marit.
But Brigitte opted not to wear a hat and the first lady of France had her blond hair in a nearly the impossible bouffant, that swept to her shoulders.
Not wearing black veils were Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended a ceremony this morning in Rome’s St. Peter’s. Meloni wore a black pantsuit.
The solemn event, however, was the crowd that would be attending, and Brigitte decided to dress in a double breasted black blazer with a long pleated skirt falling past her calves and a matching turtleneck.